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RCGI organizes discussion group regarding the public’s perception of CCS

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies are some of the means of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The group is open to new participants

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies are still not familiar to people who do not keep up on the discussions and the possible solutions for the problem of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But a group recently formed by Drielli Peyerl and Nathália Weber, of the FAPESP, Shell Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI) can contribute to making the subject more accessible. “Public Perception of CCS” is an interdisciplinary group that meets once a month and is open for researchers and academics from a variety of fields to join. Contact can be made via the e-mail: percepcaopublica@gmail.com.

Three professors from the Institute of Energy and the Environment of the University of São Paulo (IEE-USP), which is the institution responsible for the RCGI’s Energy and Economic Policies program, are supporting the work of the group: Edmilson Moutinho dos Santos, Evandro Mateus Moretto, and Célio Bermann.

The monthly meetings take place on Thursday mornings, at the RCGI headquarters, in the Mechanical Engineering building of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (Poli-USP), in the city of São Paulo. The group already has 20 participants from several areas, including engineering, psychology, history, geography, geology, biology, and international relations.

[custom_blockquote style=”green”]  “We felt there was a lack of interdisciplinary discussion in the RCGI regarding CCS and we know that the way in which the people are informed about this type of enterprise has an impact on the public perception of these projects,” says petroleum engineer Nathália Weber. “For the time being, we are gleaning research and publications on the subject, which will give us a foundation for further action, going forward,” adds Drielli Peyerl, historian. [/custom_blockquote]

Reducing GHG emissions has become the main focus of the RCGI, and that mission was recently announced by the Centre’s Scientific Director, Júlio Meneghini. Within that emphasis, the institution launched a program with 16 projects, last year, all of which are dedicated to carbon abatement. With financing by FAPESP and by Shell, the RCGI now has more than 200 researchers working jointly to solve technological and public policy problems in the natural gas sector.