Half of Germans would accept CO2 storage sites in their region - survey

About half of the people in Germany would accept a carbon storage site in their region, an online survey commissioned by news magazine Der Spiegel has found. In the survey conducted by pollster Civey, 50 percent of respondents said they would accept a facility for carbon storage deep underground in their region, while 30 percent rejected it. The survey also found that CCS technology is not very well known among the general population. Only 40 percent said they were familiar with it, while 55 percent said they did not know what it was. Storing captured CO2 onshore was supported by 28 percent of respondents and 22 percent favoured offshore storage. Thirty-one percent rejected carbon storage altogether. Respondents were more critical of nuclear waste storage sites: 46 percent rejected the idea of having a final repository in their region, while 40 percent said they would accept it.

Years of protests against industry plans to use CCS as a lifeline for coal power  made the technology a no-go issue for German politicians. But Germany’s goal of climate neutrality by 2045 reopened debate on the issue of combatting unavoidable CO2 emissions, for example in cement production, and led parties to reassess their official stance. One year after the government took office, the economy ministry published the country’s second CCS law evaluation report. The government is currently working on a carbon management strategy, which would also cover the storage question.