Public Perception's Role in Carbon Removal at Scale: The Importance of Public Opinion on Barriers to Implementation of CDR

With around 7 years left of current emissions levels before the world surpasses 1.5°C, Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is expected by most scientific bodies concerned with climate change to remove gigatons of carbon emissions from the atmosphere to 1) counteract hard-to-decarbonize emissions and 2) remove legacy emissions. The industry has been predicted to reach a scale of 10 Gt of CO2 removal per year or more by 2050, with projections of large resource demand (for land, water, energy, and capital) compounding with parts of industry scaling at rates of around 50% per year. To achieve such speed and ultimate capacity, the CDR industry will need to overcome six primary barriers: Biophysical Constraints, Research and Modeling, Governance, Funding Mechanisms, Social Acceptability, and Industry Development. Lacking thus far in literature, this thesis explores what role Social Acceptability plays within each of the other established barriers to scaling. This thesis analyses these barriers through the lens of a social license to operate (SLO), building off related industries’ successes and failures in achieving such an SLO. We identify four unique communities whose acceptance of the carbon removal industry will be important to its ability to scale at speed and to a high capacity, political communities, markets, general publics, and local communities. Within each of carbon removal’s barriers for scaling, social acceptability plays a key role. As parts of the industry begin to scale in earnest for the first time in this decade, it’s likely that the role of social acceptability will begin to crystallize. This thesis recommends more preemptive investigation into the subject from industry and scientific communities.