Stakeholder participation practices and onshore CCS: Lessons from the Dutch CCS Case Barendrecht

To date, hardly any field study results are available on responses from lay people in communities that are confronted with the possibility of a local CO2 storage project. This paper describes one of the first of such studies, presenting a case description of an onshore CCS demonstration project in Barendrecht, the Netherlands. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we provide an indepth analysis of the development of public awareness of an onshore CCS demonstration project in Barendrecht, the Netherlands. Second, by analyzing practices and outcomes, and by linking these to existing knowledge about stakeholder involvement and public communication, we identify a set of conditions for effective communication and involvement strategies. Findings indicate that one important cause of the lack of local acceptance of the project was the absence of a cohesive and timely involvement strategy for discussing the project with local stakeholders as part of the formal decision-making process rather than apart from it. The paper concludes with a list of recommendations for stakeholder involvement in future CCS operations. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.