Drivers and barriers to social acceptance of carbon capture, utilisation and storage: A systematic literature review of survey-based studies

Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) refers to a suite of technologies that can play an important role to decarbonise the energy and industry sectors. However, it is often argued that CCUS faces social acceptance issues. After more than 20 years of extensive research on this topic, this article provides a systematic literature review to assess the level of social acceptance of CCUS and analyse the role and importance of existing drivers and barriers for this acceptance. The results show that, overall, social acceptance of CCUS is neutral to slightly positive, being generally less preferred than other climate mitigation options. The most relevant drivers include perception of benefits (particularly effectiveness in climate change mitigation), knowledge of CCUS and trust on relevant stakeholders. In addition to proximity to a CCUS facility, the main barriers are related to perceived technological risks and leakage. The article identifies some knowledge gaps on the topic and proposes several avenues for further research. It also derives some policy implications from the research.