The project “Impact of communication” consists of 11 partners from six countries led by Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, Institute of Energy Research, Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation (IEF-STE).

It started on January 2009 with a kick – off meeting in Juelich. The main subjects were the establishment of the cooperation between the partners and the definition of the first steps of the project implementation.

The first mid-term meeting was prepared in close cooperation with the National Institute of Marine Geology and Geoecology (GeoEcoMar) and the Institute for Studies and Power Engineering (ISPE). It took place in Bucharest on April 27-28, 2009. The major issues discussed were the necessary materials and instruments for the WP2 and WP3 implementation. Furthermore, a time schedule for the implementation of the focus groups, the ICQ surveys, and the representative surveys were set for each country.

The preparation and implementation of the first part of the “Comparative study of CCS communication methods” (WP2) is by now finalised in all participating countries, according to the time schedule set in the meeting. This comprised the development of the necessary instruments for the focus groups (expert scripts, moderator guidelines and questionnaires for the focus group participants). These activities were guided by the work package leaders Leiden University and University of Cambridge in close cooperation with BGS and IEF-STE.

The second part of the comparative study comprises the development, programming and testing of the Information-Choice-Questionnaire (ICQ). The recruitment and matching of the ICQ participants with the focus groups participants has started and it’s expected to complete, in all of the participating countries, on August 2009.

Regarding the “Representative surveys of public awareness, knowledge and opinions concerning CCS” (WP3), a draft of the questionnaire has been developed by the work package leaders SINTEF, Wuppertal Institute and University of Cambridge in cooperation with IEF-STE. In addition, a draft of a model was developed to analyse the causal relations between different factors which could be important for the acceptance of CCS. The details of the WP3 implementation will be discussed and agreed upon during the second mid-term meeting which is going to take place in Trondheim on August 25-26, 2009. This meeting will be prepared and organised by IEF-STE in close cooperation with SINTEF.

With regard to “Dissemination activities” (WP4), the project homepage was developed by the “Centre for Research and Technology Hellas/Institute for Solid Fuels Technology and Application (CERTH/ISFTA)” in cooperation with the IEF-STE .

Information about the project was also published on the homepage of FENCO-ERA-NET. Both homepages are linked with the homepage of the IEF-STE.

Additionally, the project was presented during the Climate Change Congress in Copenhagen (March 2009) and during the CCT 2009 (May 2009) in Dresden.

The project runs in accordance with the work plan schedule and the perspectives of achieving the project goals are consistent with the project planning.