This paper will examine the reasons behind recent cancellations of CCS demonstration projects by analyzing a variety of technical, economic and societal risks involved in two projects; Barendrecht in the Netherlands and Finncap in Finland. Societal risks are often not given sufficient attention and can cause problems which could have been avoided if these risks had been addressed during project planning. Unlike economic and technical risks, societal risks cannot be quantified but the severity of these risks can be estimated in order to include them in the risk management framework. Although there are strong linkages between different risks, it can be demonstrated that the problems experienced in the two demonstration projects initiated from societal risks, as lack of either political support or public acceptance.