On the Organisation of Translation—An Inter- and Transdisciplinary Approach to Developing Design Options for CO2 Storage Monitoring Systems

Abstract

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration has become a common practice in technology development projects. Rarely, however, the integration (and translation) of knowledge from different disciplines and different societal contexts is reported in detail. In this article, we address this gap and present the inter- and transdisciplinary technology development in the international research project “DigiMon—Digital Monitoring of CO2 Storage Projects” that aims to develop a human-centered monitoring system. Based on interviews, surveys and stakeholder workshops in Norway, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands, we identify characteristics of CO2 storage monitoring systems that reflect the concerns and expectations of publics and stakeholders. We document the translation of social scientific findings into technical expertise for the design of a monitoring system. We discuss how the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary process has affected the technology development. In outlining how this process was set up, carried out and validated, we are able to show a viable route for the meaningful incorporation of heterogeneous knowledge in complex energy infrastructures. Furthermore, we discuss the features of the project organization that made this comprehensive process possible. Thus, our results contribute to inter- and transdisciplinary research organization in general and to the development of methods for monitoring CO2 storage in particular.

German citizens’ preference for domestic carbon dioxide removal by afforestation is incompatible with national removal potential

“…Overall, the absolute levels of trust in government and firms are similar 54,55 . In previous CCS-projects, the public perceived governments to be influenced by industry 56 , but they had more trust in governments monitoring CCS sites properly compared to firms doing the monitoring 22 .…”

“…Perceptions elicited in group discussions or deliberations often centre around environmental side-effects, such as pollution or interventions into the natural environment 13,[18][19][20] . CO 2 leakage is one of the main concerns about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)-which provides carbon storage for the CDR approaches bioenergy with CCS and DACCS-but study participants are mainly worried about the direct effects on humans and animals at the leakage site, while the negative effect of carbon leakage on the climate or the permanence of storage, i.e., how long it would be stored, are not major concerns 21,22 . Low storage safety is on the other hand rarely mentioned as a risk of afforestation despite the threat of pests, forest fires and droughts.…”

“…If this is the case, Germany will probably have to rely on buying CO 2 removals from other countries as regulated under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement 32 to meet its nationally determined contributions. The questions of where to compensate domestic emissions and of who should implement the CDR methods raises several questions: Do countries live up to their climate ambitions and their historic responsibility by having the work done in other states 26,33 , or are the actors in other states or at home trustworthy 22,34 ? Therefore, public support of CDR methods can be affected by citizens' trust in countries and institutions.…”

What do stakeholders expect from an integrated system for informing social partners and decision makers in digital monitoring of CO2 storage

“…The Netherlands [15] • D3.4 -Design Options for CO2 Storage Monitoring Systems. [16] • D3.5 -Report on the best practices of the co-design processes with local stakeholders and the validation of the tailored human centred CO2 monitoring system [17] The identified features result from multiple steps of interdisciplinary collaboration and much of the work we have done as WP3 team, as written in the "design options for monitoring systems" deliverable [17]. A series of stakeholder workshops were organized in participating countries as part of this process, where identified design options were presented to the participants for commenting.…”

The Design of an Integrated Informatics System for Digital Monitoring, Management and Information of Social Partners Regarding the Safety of CO2 Storage

“…However, the impact of different leak scenarios and the real danger to health and the environment is highly variable. Breaking high-pressure pipelines can lead to fatal explosions or clouds of suffocating gas, while an underground release of CO 2 can lead to the release of less CO 2 at slow speeds into the atmosphere, but with little or no human impact [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”