How to Capture the Bipartisan CCS Opportunity
New research from FTI Consulting reveals bipartisan support for carbon capture across key states, but public education gaps create risks for developers.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has emerged as a critical technology for reducing emissions, particularly hard-to-electrify sectors like manufacturing, chemicals, and cement.1 The U.S. has been a leader in deploying CCS,2 and the technology has historically enjoyed strong bipartisan support.3 However, opposition has been growing, particularly around pipeline projects that are necessary to transport CO2 from where it is captured to injection sites.4 Similar to the success of all energy technologies, community buy-in for CCS infrastructure is essential.
To dig deeper, FTI Consulting conducted research across five U.S. states where CCS investment is occurring, in an effort to better understand the challenges and opportunities for CCS. The research provides insights into how companies should view the operational landscape, as well as recommendations on how they can communicate the value of these projects.
The findings show that there is still broad, bipartisan support for CCS, and that support often exceeds the opposition. State-level findings indicate this dynamic is similar across “blue” states and “red” states. However, there remains a large population that is unfamiliar with carbon capture, and as recent news developments have shown, opponents are looking to sway these audiences against CCS.5 To be successful, the industry should ensure its supporters become even stronger proponents and leverage tailored messaging to expand its support base and counter the increased intensity of opposition campaigns.
Methodology: FTI Consulting conducted a nationwide survey of 1000 registered voters with oversamples in California, Illinois, Louisiana , Texas, and in South Dakota in Q4 2024. We have weighted this data to be demographically representative of registered voters nationwide.
Red States & Blue States Agree on CCS
A handful of states including California, Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois are leading the charge for investment in CCS. As of this writing, there are 134 permit applications for CO2 storage wells (also known as Class VI wells) under review across these four states—more than 80 percent of all Class VI permit applications.
CCS gets strong support in deep red and deep blue states with limited opposition, indicating that these projects are not political lightning rods to the average voter. CCS support is also consistent, capturing double digit margins.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
Respondents Are Likely to Support CCS in Their Communities – But There Is a Knowledge Gap
Voters nationwide, and in deep red and blue states, are nearly twice as likely to support CCS projects like CO2 pipelines and CCS facilities being built near their communities than oppose it – including the majority of voters in California and Texas.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
Despite strong support for CCS, knowledge of it is limited, with only a third of voters nationwide being knowledgeable. This low level of knowledge holds true across deep red and blue states. Voters are twice as likely to be knowledgeable of solar and oil than CCS, indicating a need for more education on the technology.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
Optimism about CCS improves once voters learn more about it
The lack of knowledge about CCS leaves roughly a third of voters in each state undecided on CCS support, posing a risk as opponents get organized and well resourced. Few voters indicate they are hearing about CCS, but among those who do, two thirds say they have a more favorable opinion of it.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
When introduced to CCS technology, voters overwhelmingly believe it is an effective tool to reduce emissions, including voters in deep blue and deep red states, showing that CCS supporters can push CCS’s profile as a key part of the energy transition and voters will find it credible.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
Concerns over community impact and safety are real. Half of voters are worried about potential CO2 leakage from storage sites, and the potential danger the facilities pose to communities. CCS supporters will need to get out in front of these concerns in community engagement and communication strategies. Long-term effectiveness and costs to taxpayers also looms large for voters.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
Opportunity to highlight impact on local jobs. Initial messaging shows that a jobs focused message is most effective at convincing voters who are on the fence about CCS more generally.
Source: FTI Consulting Inc.
The Takeaway
Companies investing in CCS, despite some of the alarmist headlines, have decent baseline of support. Our research indicates significant opportunities to advance CCS in a win-win fashion with local communities. However, public support – while bipartisan and consistent across most states – is soft and may not be particularly deep. Developers must continue to prioritize community engagement and public education efforts, including taking direct action to correct misinformation when it spreads. Messages that focus on job creation are the most likely to resonate, particularly with audiences still making up their minds about CCS.
FTI specializes in building and executing communication engagement and communications strategies, and our success is directly connected to the data-driven insights that form the foundation of our work. As our research suggests, the right communications strategy can ensure the advancement of CCS, while also creating deep and lasting support in the community.
We welcome further discussion around this topic.
The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, Inc., its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.
FTI Consulting, Inc., including its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a consulting firm and is not a certified public accounting firm or a law firm.
FTI Consulting is an independent global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal, operational, political and regulatory, reputational and transactional. FTI Consulting professionals, located in all major business centers throughout the world, work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges and opportunities. ©2025 FTI Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. fticonsulting.com
Related Insights
References
[1] Matt Bright, Toby Lockwood, “What does the latest IPCC report say about carbon capture?,” Clean Air Task Force (April 20, 2022), https://www.catf.us/2022/04/what-does-latest-ipcc-report-say-about-carbon-capture/
[2] Mary Sagatelova, Ryan Fitzpatrick, “Status Report: US Leadership in CCUS Technology,” Third Way (July 23, 2024), https://www.thirdway.org/memo/status-report-us-leadership-in-ccus-technology
[3] “STATEMENT: US Bipartisan Carbon Dioxide Removal Investment Act Levels the Playing Field for Carbon Removal Scale-Up,” World Resources Institute (November 21, 2024), https://www.wri.org/news/statement-us-bipartisan-carbon-dioxide-removal-investment-act-levels-playing-field-carbon
[4] “The Carbon Capture Scam,” Food & Water Watch (last accessed March 12, 2025), https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/the-carbon-capture-scam/
[5] Joshua Haiar, “Carbon pipeline opponents rally in Pierre amid renewed push for eminent domain ban,” North Dakota Monitor (January 13, 2025), https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/01/13/carbon-pipeline-opponents-rally-in-pierre-amid-renewed-push-for-eminent-domain-ban/
