Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) are technologies which aim at mitigating climate change and saving fossil resources: CO 2 emissions from industrial plants are captured and stored underground (CCS) or used for the manufacturing of products (CCU). In contrast to CCS, CCU is less about the reduction of CO 2 emissions, since the global demand for feedstock CO 2 to be used for CCU products is considerably lower than the CO 2 emissions produced worldwide. Moreover, the CO 2 is only temporarily stored until the disposal of the CCU products. Instead, a reduction of fossil resources in product manufacturing is the primary goal for CCU. The successful roll-out of CCS and CCU is not solely determined by technical feasibility but also depends on public acceptance. Research has shown that acceptance of energy technologies is impacted by laypersons’ attitudes. So far, little is known about differences in affective and cognitive evaluations of CCU in comparison to CCS. To address this research gap, an online survey was conducted in Germany (n = 449), in which affective and cognitive evaluation profiles for CCS and CCU were compared. Also, it was explored whether attitudes towards CCS are predictive of CCU acceptance. Results revealed basically similar evaluation profiles for CCS and CCU but CCU was rated significantly more positively. Comparing results for CCS supporters and opponents, it was found that CCS supporters rated CCU similarly positive whereas CCS opponents evaluated CCU significantly better than CCS. The findings can be used for communication concepts tailored to laypeople's requirements and concerns and yield implications for industrial policy-making.

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