Trust issues preventing US CCS industry from hitting full throttle in net-zero race, report warns

In the latest edition of a paper series examining the role of trust in the race to achieving net zero by using carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the United States, Australia’s engineering company Worley and researchers at Princeton University have found that distrust between stakeholders is one of the key reasons precluding the industry from reaching its full potential.

According to the report, a lack of trust among project stakeholders is slowing the pace of infrastructure delivery which is crucial for decarbonization targets. This finding comes from primary research carried out for the fourth edition of the ‘From Ambition to Reality’ paper series: ‘Net zero at the speed of trust’, done by researchers at Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

The key takeaway after surveying hundreds of infrastructure professionals and thousands of broader stakeholders and members of the public is that the U.S. CCS industry is facing trust issues. Furthermore, the level of public confidence in CCS projects was found to be lower than perceived by industry professionals.

Chris Greig, Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy & the Environment at Princeton University, and co-author of the From Ambition to Reality series added: “According to the findings shared in our paper, acceptance for proposed CCS projects and sites can be increased by timely dissemination of information, which was shown to decrease perceived risks, and increase perceived benefits.

“We think this further implies that early, authentic engagement with host communities and other stakeholders will help underpin the trust needed to accelerate deployment. Given that there are no plausible pathways to net zero that do not involve large scale deployment of CCS technology, building durable trust between infrastructure participants is essential.”

Challenges within the industry are thought to contribute to the mismatch in the real and perceived level of trust. Among CCS professionals, 64% are generally skeptical about the information provided by other companies working on the same project, 59% towards information from regulators, and 57% towards information from environmental organizations concerning CCS projects.

“While trust between all infrastructure participants is important, the relationships between asset developers, governments, financiers and civil society are considered by experts to have the most impact on the pace at which projects can be delivered. These groups, in particular must invest time and effort to build durable trust through sharing information, collaborating, and creating shared value,” said Sue Brown, Executive Group Director, Sustainability & Corporate Affairs at Worley.

“Building durable trust is imperative to speed up project final investment decisions (FID) and delivery in ways that create positive net outcomes for stakeholders. If we do not accelerate a paradigm shift in approach, we will simply fail to build the infrastructure of climate response in time. Indeed, we may not even get halfway.”

Princeton University and Worley intend to continue looking into the conditions for building long-lasting trust between infrastructure participants. One of the ways they plan to do this is by creating a framework that will enable project delivery enhancements to achieve the speed and scale of deployment required for mid-century net zero goals.

Last month, NextDecade Corporation withdrew an application made to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) earlier that month for the reauthorization of a proposed CCS project that was meant to curb the carbon footprint of Rio Grande LNG – its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Texas. 

While stating that the “CCS project at RGLNG is not sufficiently developed to allow FERC review to continue at this time,” the U.S. player assured the public that it is determined to move forward with its LNG project.