Framing Co2 Storage Risk: A Cultural Theory Perspective

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 375-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Evar
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Risk Framing ◽  
Eu Commission ◽  
The Eu

This research note discusses risk perceptions of CO2 storage from a cultural theory perspective. Data for consideration is drawn from several publications by key stakeholders in the CO2 storage risk debate, as well as studies of (lay) public perceptions of risk. Two strands of further research are proposed based on the data, and a claim is made that publications from one stakeholder, the EU Commission, strongly indicate a risk framing that conforms to the hierarchical typology within cultural theory. Suggestions are made for more detailed fieldwork to confirm this finding and to investigate the research questions further.

scholarly journals Public Perceptions of Biofuels - Case Study: Frames of Biofuel Discussion in the Finnish Context

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Siivari ◽  
Ilia Safrutin ◽  
Khalil Mozaffari ◽  
Esa Käyhkö ◽  
Risto Jouttijärvi
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Eu

Biofuels are fuels made of biological materials and they can be used in cars, trucks and other engines. The EU's policy and regulatory framework for bioeconomy and biofuels is seen as a multi-layered and complex issue. Policies around biofuels have developed recently in the EU. Renewable Energy Directive II established a binding target for the use of renewable energy across the European Union by 2030 to be 32% of the total energy production. Finland is a country where the utilization of forest biomass has traditions ranging back centuries and continues in the present day with bioenergy holding a central role in the Finnish energy matrix. Our case study is focused on examining the public perceptions of biofuels in Finland and is linked to the discussion about climate change, global warming, and sustainable development. We used a stakeholder approach and mapped key stakeholders in the biofuel sector in Finland from six stakeholder categories: corporations, governmental actors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), municipalities, universities, and the media. We selected 59 online publications for our analysis from a time period between 2010-2019. Frame analysis was conducted using three pairs of polarised frames: environmental positive and negative, economic positive and negative, and technological positive and negative. The results show that for the most part the framing of biofuel discussion in Finland is positive and emphasizes the environmentally and economically positive aspects. The negative aspects that came to front are especially in the notions of economic costs and in arguments for environmental calculations. The EU legislation itself is seen as a background to all this discussion and is itself not scrutinized extensively by the various stakeholders.

Risk, knowledge, and trust in managing forest insect disturbance

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonita L. McFarlane ◽  
John R. Parkins ◽  
David O.T. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
Forest Insect ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Trust In Management

Understanding perceptions of risks, awareness, and trust in management agencies is critical to effective management of large-scale forest insect disturbance. In this study, we examined regional variation in public perceptions of risk, compared public and land managers’ perceptions, and examined knowledge and trust as factors in shaping public perceptions of a mountain pine beetle (MPB) ( Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) infestation. Survey data were collected from residents (n = 1303) in three regions of Alberta and from land managers (n = 43) responsible for MPB management. Results showed that residents had moderate or great concern for MBP risks, they were not well informed about MPB, and they showed slight trust in the provincial government and forest industry to manage the beetle. There was regional variation in perceptions of risks, knowledge, and trust. Land managers were less concerned about nontimber effects and had higher trust than the public. A positive correlation between trust and risk perceptions appears to contradict the risk literature. This relationship may be influenced by an intervening effect of knowledge. These results call for more attention to the content of risk messaging and the effects of trust and knowledge on the general public who take up these messages.

scholarly journals Public Responses to Co2 Storage Sites: Lessons from Five European Cases

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 227-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Oltra ◽  
Paul Upham ◽  
Hauke Riesch ◽  
Àlex Boso ◽  
Suzanne Brunsting ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Engagement Process ◽  
Process Risk ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
And Storage

Studies of the factors involved in public perceptions of CO2 storage projects reveal a level of complexity and diversity that arguably confounds a comprehensive theoretical account. To some extent, a conceptual approach that simply organises the relevant social scientific knowledge thematically, rather than seeking an integrated explanation, is as useful as any single account that fails to do justice to the contingencies involved. This paper reviews and assembles such knowledge in terms of six themes and applies these themes to five European cases of carbon capture and storage (CCS) implementation. We identify the main factors involved in community responses to CCS as relating to: The characteristics of the project; the engagement process; risk perceptions; the actions of the stakeholders; the characteristics of the community, and the socio-political context.

The EU Commission

2020 ◽  
pp. 176-207
Author(s):  
Vivien A. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Commission President ◽  
The One ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Eu Commission ◽  
The Eu

Chapter 7 discusses the Commission’s pathway to legitimacy, as it moved from a rigid interpretation of the “one size fits all” rules of the European Semester to an increasingly flexible one. The chapter begins by analyzing the Commission’s powers, diminished by the Council’s increase in intergovernmental decision-making but enhanced by its ever-growing oversight responsibilities and discretionary authority, and its quandaries with regard to throughput legitimacy. These stem from the countervailing pressures from Northern Europe calling for more rigid rules application, and from Southern Europe calling for greater flexibility. Such pressures also contributed to Commission politicization, starting with Council appointment of José Manuel Barroso as Commission President in line with his political “color” and culminating with the Spitzenkandidat, Jean-Claude Juncker, and his self-declared “political” Commission. The chapter follows with a discussion of the Janus-faced public perceptions of the Commission in Eurozone crisis governance as “ayatollahs of austerity” or “Ministers of Moderation.” During the fast-burning crisis, the Commission appeared ayatollah-like in its rigid approach to governing by the rules and numbers that it had itself proposed to the Council. But as the crisis slowed, the Commission ministered greater moderation, with the Barroso Commission reinterpreting the rules while denying it, and the Juncker Commission fully admitting to its greater flexibility. The exception was the Commission’s Ayatollah-like stance in the Troika (as the voice of the Eurogroup). The chapter closes with a discussion of the deleterious impact of the European Semester on national sovereignty and democracy, in particular with regard to the Commission’s national budgetary oversight.

scholarly journals Perceived risk of lock-in in the front-end phase of major transportation projects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal C. Cantarelli ◽  
David Oglethorpe ◽  
Bert van Wee
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Transportation Projects ◽  
Front End ◽  
Mediating Factor ◽  
Lock In

AbstractLock-in is defined as the tendency to continue with an inefficient decision or project proposal. The front-end phase is critical to project success, yet most studies have focused on lock-in in the implementation phase. Moreover, little is known about the way in which decision-makers perceive the risk of lock-in. In this paper we identify determinants of lock-in in the front-end phase and we reveal decision-makers’ perceptions of risk of lock-in. Our findings show that risk attitudes towards lock-in vary with the level of risk aversion. However, this is not sufficiently acute to drive the level of regret needed to avoid lock-in. This implies that decision-makers do not accurately assess the risk of lock-in and as such their risk perceptions are a mediating factor in the formation of lock-in. Based on escalation of commitment, path dependency, and prospect theory, the main contribution lies in providing a more comprehensive understanding of lock-in in the front-end phase.

scholarly journals Ergot Alkaloids in Wheat and Rye Derived Products in Italy

Foods ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Debegnach ◽  
Simona Patriarca ◽  
Carlo Brera ◽  
Emanuela Gregori ◽  
Elisa Sonego ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Durum Wheat ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Plant Pathogen ◽  
Ergot Alkaloids ◽  
Cereal Grains ◽  
Wheat Bread ◽  
Claviceps Purpurea ◽  
Eu Commission ◽  
Ongoing Monitoring ◽  
The Eu

Genus Claviceps is a plant pathogen able to produce a group of toxins, ergot alkaloids (EAs), whose effects have been known since the Middle Ages (ergotism). Claviceps purpurea is the most important representative specie, known to infect more than 400 monocotyledonous plants including economically important cereal grains (e.g., rye, wheat, triticale). EAs are not regulated as such. Maximum limits are in the pipeline of the EU Commission while at present ergot sclerotia content is set by the Regulation (EC) No. 1881/2006 in unprocessed cereals (0.05% as a maximum). This study aimed to investigate the presence of the six principal EAs (ergometrine, ergosine, ergocornine, α-ergocryptine, ergotamine and ergocristine) and their relative epimers (-inine forms) in rye- and wheat-based products. Of the samples, 85% resulted positive for at least one of the EAs. Wheat bread was the product with the highest number of positivity (56%), followed by wheat flour (26%). Rye and wheat bread samples showed the highest values when the sum of the EAs was considered, and durum wheat bread was the more contaminated sample (1142.6 μg/kg). These results suggest that ongoing monitoring of EAs in food products is critical until maximum limits are set.

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