Drax Group has plans to run the worlds largest BECCS center at its power station in Yorkshire. Drax CEO Will Gardiner utilized this storyline more than any other individual.” The UK federal government is relying on BECCS to help provide their net-zero strategy but the battle for public opinion is far from won,” says Donnison. “Our research shows a targeted, limited implementation of BECCS using sustainably sourced biomass could have broad nationwide appeal. If public concerns arent resolved, the government will have to look to a fast-diminishing list of alternative technological and policy choices.”
A new research study analyzed public viewpoint on Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), a dissentious energy technology featured in the UKs net-zero strategy for 2050. The research study identified eight essential stories in media coverage, ranging from seeing BECCS as a “Necessary mitigation tool” to labeling it “Worse than coal,” and discovered that the fight for popular opinion on BECCS is far from settled.
A recent research study delves into the polarizing public discourse surrounding a controversial energy technology. Supporters argue that its vital for battling climate modification, while detractors declare its a lot more hazardous than coal.
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) includes greatly in the UK governments strategy to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050. There is low public awareness of the innovation, which has divided the opinion of politicians, media, and scientists outlets.
BECCS creates energy by burning plants and trees and captures the resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, storing them underground.
Now, research by the University of Southampton has analyzed coverage of BECCS in 166 news article to recognize the essential storylines about the energy technology and comprehend whether it is most likely to be accepted by individuals in the UK and beyond.
” With public understanding of BECCS so minimal, the media has a crucial function in forming dispute and viewpoint on the innovation,” says Caspar Donnison, Research Fellow in Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton and lead author of the research.
” Weve seen in the fracking argument how completing stories are utilized to affect social approval of a new innovation, and eventually whether it becomes part of the UKs energy mix or not.”
The research study published in Energy Research & & Social Science recognized 8 key stories. On the Pro-BECCS side were Necessary mitigation tool; Keeping the lights on; Anchor for transition; and Revolutionary technology. On the Anti-BECCS side were Worse than coal; Environmental disaster; No silver bullet; and Distraction.
” Sustainable biomass” to “level up the North”
Drax Group has strategies to run the worlds biggest BECCS center at its power station in Yorkshire. Drax CEO Will Gardiner used this story more than any other person.
Stories focusing on opportunity (Anchor for shift and Revolutionary technology) were most prominent in Yorkshires regional media. Regional MPs described “closing the North-South divide” and Rishi Sunak MP described the Drax task as “transformative for the areas economy”, soon before ending up being Prime Minister.
” Draxs proposals in Yorkshire have had a significant influence on the UK dispute, driving more articles from three regional papers than all the national coverage combined,” says Professor Gail Taylor, co-author of the paper and John B Orr Distinguished Professor of Environmental Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis. “The pro-BECCS union enjoyed higher dominance in regional news media, where the requirement framing was matched with the promise of socioeconomic benefits to the area.”
” Ecological disaster” and “magical thinking”
The Worse than coal story gained prominence following a BBC Panorama documentary on Draxs supply chain and was included in 34 posts– mostly in nationwide newspapers. Environmental NGOs and others declare, with minimal proof, that biomass combustion results in comparable CO2 emissions to coal, that this carbon may not be re-absorbed by replanting trees, and that supply-chain emissions contribute to the carbon cost. 32 short articles framed BECCS as an Environmental disaster, recommending the land-use demand positioned a risk to wildlife and food production.
Countering the Revolutionary innovation narrative, 23 national newspaper short articles (17 in the Guardian) recommended BECCS was No silver bullet, explaining it as “too great to be true” and “not feasible” at the scale and timescale imagined. A further 10 articles in the Guardian and Independent, mostly credited to NGOs, recommended it was a Distraction, acting as “a license to keep producing.”
” The UK federal government is counting on BECCS to help provide their net-zero strategy but the fight for popular opinion is far from won,” states Donnison. “Our research shows a targeted, restricted deployment of BECCS utilizing sustainably sourced biomass might have broad national appeal. However if public concerns arent dealt with, the federal government will have to aim to a fast-diminishing list of alternative technological and policy options.”
Recommendation: “A net-zero storyline for success? News media analysis of the social legitimacy of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in the United Kingdom” by Caspar L. Donnison, Karolina Trdlicova, Alison Mohr and Gail Taylor, 9 June 2023, Energy Research & & Social Science.DOI: 10.1016/ j.erss.2023.103153.
The study was moneyed by the UK Energy Research Centre.