“nature” by barnyz via Flickr is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The UKCCSRC is supported by the EPSRC with a mission to ensure that carbon capture and storage (CCS) plays an effective role in helping the UK achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It has built and supports a UK CCS community with its network of 1400 members and provides a national focal point for CCS research and development. Researchers at Tyndall Manchester have been part of the UK CCS Research Centre since it was created in 2012. The University of Manchester is a partner institution and leads one of the centre’s core research projects: “Social License to operate” within the Systems and Policy theme.
The Social License to Operate (SLO) project is exploring the role of the UK industrial clusters in enabling carbon, capture, storage and use (CCUS) deployment, with the aim of understanding how activities within the UK CCUS clusters may contribute to the development of a SLO at regional and national scales. The industrial clusters are central to the UK Industrial Strategy, which aims to establish the first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040 and at least one low-carbon cluster by 2030. The cluster approach suggests a new framing for CCUS and a new way of thinking about how to secure investment in the technology. In light of this changing approach to CCUS deployment, this project applies the concept of ‘protective spaces’ from sustainability transition management, conceptualising the clusters as technology niches where CCUS can develop outside of the pressures of the current socio-technical regime. Working with key stakeholders, the aim is to better understand the issues and priorities in establishing CCUS within the UK energy system, and to help build the necessary foundations to establish a social license to operate CCS in the UK.
Publications:
C. Gough and S. Mander (2019). “Beyond Social Acceptability: Applying Lessons from CCS Social Science to Support Deployment of BECCS.” Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports, 6 (4) 116-123,
