How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

How  to  communicate  a  risk  technology?  Results  from  a  research  project  on  public  

rela:ons  for  deep  geothermal  

Marcus  Brian  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Content

 What  is  risk  communica/on?  

 Geothermal  -­‐  a  risk  technology?  

 Results  from  a  research  project      on  public  rela/ons  for  deep  geothermal  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Geothermal  –  a  risk  technology?  

  It‘s  not  because  of  an  extraordinary  risky  technology     It‘s  not  the  opinion  of  the  experts       It‘s  the  percep:on  of  the  popula:on  

OCen  opposi:on  and/or  lack  of  acceptance  

Necessity  of  risk  communica:on  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Research  project  Evalua:on  &  Op:misa:on  of  PR  for  deep  geothermal  

Phase  2  -­‐  Communica:on  concepts    One  concept  for  a  star/ng  project  and  one  for  a  project  in  opera/on  

Phase  1    -­‐  Analysis  of  four  geothermal  projects    Media  analysis  Stakeholder  analysis  Analysis  of  public  rela/ons  

Phase  3  -­‐  Manual  Manual  „Public  rela/ons  for  geothermal  projects“  

Funded  by  

2011  

2012  

2013  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Phase  1:  Analysis  of  four  projects    Selected  projects  

  Unterhaching,  Landau,  Brühl,  Bruchsal  

 PR  analysis    Interviews  with  project  responsibles    Analysis  of  PR  acivi/es  

 Media  analysis  

  Analysis  of  450  ar/cles  (mostly  2010  and  2011)  

  Stakeholder  interviews    29  interviews  alltogether  

  Gave  an  impression  of  how  the  project    is  perceived  by  the  popula/on  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

What  is  risk  communica:on?  

1  |  Basics  und  necessary  condi:ons  

  The  percep/on  of  risks  should  be  taken  serious  

  Risk  communica/on  is  not  guaranteeing  success  

  Ques/ons  of  risks  are  maYers  of  dispute  –  be  ready  to  nego/ate  

  Risk  is  a  construct  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Bruehl  project:  It‘s  hard  to  communicate  aCer  risk  construc:on  is  completed      

 Two  thirds  voted  against  the  project  in  a  poll   Heavy  and  con/nuing  opposi/on,  existen/ell  fears   Professional  PR  and  Risk  management  since  2011    

 But  popula/on  does  not  register  any  altera/on  

What  happend?  

 Messages  are  not  taken  effect,  because  the  efforts          to  par/cipate  on  risk  construc/on  were  too  late  

 No  real  par/cipa/on  of  the  popula/on     Closeness  to  major,  already  polarised  in  earlier  projects  

Case  exam

ple  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

What  ist  risk  communictaion?  

2  |  Substanial  elements  

  Risk  communica/on  must  be  designed  on  the  ques/ons  and  sorrows  of  the  popula/on.      These  have  to  be  known  before  you  start  

  Risk  communica/on  is  not  unidirec/onal  but  is  dialogue  

  Risk  communica/on  is  rela/onship  building  and  seeking  for  trusaulness  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Bruchsal power plant: Little relationship, no trustfulness

 Almost  not  known,  the  abtude  is  indifferent  

 PR  was  consis/ng  almost  only  on  founda/on  stone          ceremony  and  celebra/on  of  official  beginning  of  opera/on  

Causes  for  the  indifference  of  the  popula:on    LiYle  efforts  on  public  rela/ons    Inconspicuous  loca/on,  liYle  noises,  no  smell    No  nega/ve  experiences,  long  las/ng  boreholes  

What‘s  the  problem?  

 Missing  rela/onship:  Indifference  can  turn  into  opposi/on    

 No  interpreta/on  offer  due  to  the  lack  of  posi/oning  

Case  exam

ple  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

What  is  risk  communica:on?  

3  |  Key  points  for  realisa:on    

  Descrip/ons  and  informa/on  should  be  qualita/ve    rather  than  quan/ta/ve  

  Risk  communica/on  is  a  management  task  

  Benefit  is  reducing  the  percep/on  of  risk

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Unterhaching:  Municipal  project  with  tangible  benefits  

  Indepency  of  supply  is  seen  as  a  main  benefit,  no  pressure  groups  

 About  5.000  households  are  connected  to  the  district  hea/ng  system  

 Personal  contacts  rather  than  professional  PR  at  the  beginning   Awareness  for  high  costs  and  technical  problems  

What  happened?  

 Projects  evolved  from  the  center  of  local  society  

 Seismicity  is  only  a  marginal  topic  

  Intensifying  PR  due  to  the  necessity  of  selling  geothermal  

   Proudness  for  an  innova/ve  project  

Case  exam

ple  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

What  is  risk  commnica:on?  

3  |  Key  points  for  realisa:on    

   Descrip/ons  and  informa/on  should  be  qualita/ve            rather  than  quan/ta/ve  

   Risk  communica/on  is  a  management  task  

   Benefit  is  reducing  the  perceip/on  of  risk  

   Risk  communica/on  needs  a  concept  

   There  has  to  be  a  risk  management  and  a  concept  of          how  to  react  in  crisis  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Landau  power  plant:  Leap  of  faith  can  quickly  be  used  up  

 No  concept  for  crisis  management  before  seismic  events  in  2009  

 Only  liYle  rela/onship  to  popula/on  due  to  focus  on  poli/cal  stakeholders     Technical  oriented  communica/on  

 No  real  confidence,  but  also  no  mistrust  in  geo  x  

 Besides  of  single  persons,  there  is  no  big  opposi/on   Posi/ve  effect  of  media/on  process  in  RP  

 Risk  management  and  crisis  concept  established  

 Addi/onal  borehole  to  restore  profitability   Garden  show  as  a  great  chance  to  improve  image  

Case  exam

ple  

Today?

Perspec:ves?

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Phase  2:  Two  communicaton  concepts      

  First:  Concept  for  Landau  power  plant  and  geo  x  with  regard  to  the        addi/onal  borhole  and  the  garden  show  2014       Second:  Concept  for  a  new  project  in  the  Oberrheingraben  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Phase  2:  Two  communicaton  concepts      

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Phase  2:  Two  communicaton  concepts      

  The  concep/on  process  works:  Analysis  and  strategy  lead  „automa/cally“  to  adequate  measures    

  The  concept,  its  strategy  and  its  realisa/on  is  inevitable    dependend  on  the  company  owners  and  management  

  In  case  of  new,  unknown  projects,  it  is  a  challenge  to  analyse  the  local  social  context  for  the  concept  without  be  able  to  talk  to  the  people  

  Concepts  can  save  money!  For  example:  Usage  of  well  established  par/cipa/on  processes  

  It‘s  hard  work    

What  did  we  learn?

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

  Risk  communica/on  is  oriented  towards  the  needs  and  sorrows  of  the    popula/on,  not  necessarily  based  on  fact-­‐oriented  logic  

  The  goal  of  risk  communica/on  is...  

  to  demonstrate  sense  for  responsibilty  

  to  get  into  conversa/on  with  each  other  

  build  up  trusaulness  

  and  telling  a  believable  story  

...not  so  much  to  convice  with  arguments  

  Risk  communica/on  is  not  a  informa/on  campaign  

  In  the  end,  It‘s  a  ques/on  of  perspec/ve!      

Conclusions  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

What  we  do  and  what  we  offer  

Public  rela:ons   Events  

Publica:ons   Consul:ng  

How to communicate risk technology? Third Geothermal Review , 2013, Mainz

Thank you for your attention!

Marcus Brian

www.enerchange.de

Further information to the research project on www.pr-geothermie.de