Heroes, villains, and victims: A narrative policy framework analysis of media discourse on CCUS in Greece, Romania and Denmark

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) has emerged as a key yet contested technology in climate mitigation strategies. While countries, policy frameworks and companies increasingly want to incorporate CCUS as a measure for reaching decarbonization objectives, questions remain about its social acceptance. This study examines how CCUS-related narratives are constructed and disseminated in national media across Romania, Greece, and Denmark, , drawing on stakeholder theory and the Narrative Policy Framework. By analyzing media representations over four years (2020-2024), the research identifies which stakeholders are positioned as the most visible, which roles they are assigned (heroes, villains, victims), and how these portrayals reflect underlying asymmetries between these stakeholders. Findings reveal that there are indeed differences in both how some stakeholders are being portrayed, as well as in how frequently they are portrayed in the media. Across all countries, businesses dominated the discourse on CCUS, frequently portrayed both as heroes and as villains. Governments, by contrast, were consistently portrayed as villains, while local communities were largely overlooked in most narratives. Ultimately, the study highlights the media’s central role in shaping public understanding of CCUS and the broader implications of these portrayals for climate policy and the social acceptance of green technologies.