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The Scottish Government and the EU have set clear targets to curb climate change: net-zero emissions by 2045 and a climate-neutral industry by 2050, respectively. For this to happen, several crucial industries across Europe need to capture, utilise or store the CO2 released from industrial processes.

Newly released research from Professor Zoe Morrison, Dr Jacob Nielsen, and Dr Kostas Stavrianakis at Robert Gordon University (亚博体育官网)鈥攔eviewing previous CCUS projects and their public reception across Europe鈥攑rovides recommendations through the open-access journal .

They said: 鈥淪ince the 1990s, CCUS technologies have received increased attention from political, industrial, and research-focused stakeholders who envision that these technologies could play a crucial part in addressing climate change. However, even with their combined expertise climate scientists, politicians, and activist organisations cannot fully understand the potential benefits and risks for the communities most impacted by these projects.

鈥淲e need to have a more inclusive approach to carbon emissions mitigation, taking into account everyone鈥檚 views, not just the views of people who already have positions of influence.鈥�

The review and funding are part of a worldwide carbon-capture technology development project, , which aims to provide an industrial roadmap to a net-zero carbon future. It involves 120 cross-disciplinary researchers from seven countries across Europe, North America, and Asia. from the 鈧�13 million provided to ConsenCUS in funding from Horizon 2020鈥攁n EU research and innovation funding programme.

Alongside 亚博体育官网, the Aberdeen-based Net Zero Technology Centre is also a member of the ConsenCUS consortium. The NZTC team, led by Ildiko Kiss is using their industry partnerships and technology insights to supply a technological and costing analysis to support the implementation of CO2 capture from refineries to bolster the consortium 鈥榮 research.

CCUS technologies capture CO2 at the point of emission, and the captured CO2 can be used to produce various materials or stored underground, removing the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to keep 鈥渢he increase in the global average temperature to well below 2掳C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5掳C above pre-industrial levels鈥�.

However, CCUS projects have been slow to materialise even though the component processes already exist. As a result, according to 2019 estimations, Paris Agreement countries have only captured 1% of the emissions needed to meet the 2030 target of 2掳C.

The team highlights: 鈥淎lthough communities may not have expert knowledge about climate change, they have a unique insight into the problems industrial-scale pollution can cause and the impact decarbonisation projects can have on their everyday life. This community-based knowledge is essential to enhance our understanding of how best to create and accelerate reduced carbon and carbon-neutral societies.

鈥淲e鈥檙e using our review to inform a more collaborative, community-centric approach to fundamentally shape the direction of the community aspects of the ConsenCUS project.鈥�

The research makes three recommendations to increase the deployment of CCUS technologies among communities: increase the transparency of CCUS projects for open decision making and reduced concern; acknowledge the uncertainties; and encourage collaboration with local communities to avoid harm and increase social learning and acceptance.

The research team at 亚博体育官网 is happy to share its experience with other organisations and groups facing similar challenges and work more extensively with communities that have effectively reduced carbon emissions.

The full recommendations and research output can be read without charge via .