In addition to industry voices such as Gert Jan Kramer and Martin Haigh (Nature 462, 568–569; 2009), many academic experts are promoting CO2 capture and storage (CCS). But advocacy by academics could be ill-advised.
The technology has significant shortcomings that must be recognized in order to sustain progress. Academics' valuable time would be better spent on research into these limitations, rather than on advocacy. CCS has plenty of powerful supporters in politics and in industry.
A critical expert community must be monitor the development of CCS, to avoid fuelling the kind of controversy that happened over nuclear energy. The lay public needs reliable information on risks and benefits.
Social science indicates that people are more likely to trust independent experts than private-sector or government representatives. But the public will not trust advice from supposedly 'independent' CCS experts who are biased in favour of the technology. This has become obvious through recently stalled CCS projects in the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.
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de Coninck, H. Advocacy for carbon capture and storage could arouse distrust. Nature 463, 293 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/463293a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/463293a
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