CO2CRC Otway Project Social Research: Assessing CCS Community Consultation.

Abstract: The CO2CRC Otway Project is a significant carbon dioxide storage research and demonstration facility located in southwest Victoria. The project is researching carbon dioxide injection, transport, storage, monitoring and verification, with 65,000 tonnes stored since 2008 and ongoing research under way. The project supports research into CCS technologies at pore space, reservoir and regional scales. As Australia's first operational carbon dioxide storage project, the Otway Project is an important CCS technology demonstration for the nation, showing that carbon dioxide can be safely injected, stored and effectively monitored. It has informed Australia's CCS legislation and been the subject of much interest domestically and internationally. Stakeholder consultation has been a strong focus for the project since its inception and CO2CRC has been proactive in engaging with the community, regulators and government. The support of the local community, and in particular the landowners surrounding the project, has been vital in achieving social license for operations to date and for continuing research. The project began consulting with the community in 2005, three years before carbon dioxide injection. Following public and individual stakeholder meetings, independent social research was commissioned in 2006 to inform the consultation process, monitor community attitudes to the project and carbon dioxide storage, and provide the community with additional opportunities to comment on the project. This work provided valuable information on attitudes to climate change, levels of understanding of CCS, areas of community concern and preferred methods of communication. The resulting consultation program, informed by this research, has continued throughout the project's life with communication tools and strategies that include newsletters, a website, public meetings, Open Days and a dedicated community liaison officer. In 2011, CO2CRC commissioned a second round of social research, using a similar approach and methods to the initial study. Using qualitative and quantitative methods in the form of telephone surveys and focus groups, the study aimed to assess the project consultation program and to evaluate changes over time in community attitudes and perceptions of the project and CCS in general. Positive results from the second survey included a significant increase in awareness of the project and CCS in the local community, support for continuing research despite a drop in concerns over climate change, and improved relationships with the landowners hosting the project. Areas for improvement included a continuing lack of understanding of CCS technology among members of the wider community, a low profile for the project compared to the large and economically important gas facilities in the area and uncertainty surrounding the ongoing lifespan of the project. This paper presents in detail the results of the 2011 study and sets out the changes identified since 2006. The paper discusses how the interwoven aspects of community awareness, active engagement and technical understanding have helped in achieving acceptance of the project, but also highlights the difficulties of communicating highly technical concepts to a broad and dispersed population. The role of a dedicated, locally-based community liaison officer is discussed as an important method of direct consultation with landowners and a valuable two-way communication channel. The paper sets out the issues that emerged from the 2011 study, how the project is now addressing them and how the lessons learned may have application to other CCS projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]