The limits of authority

This chapter considers how the competences and real-world contexts of the various authorities involved influence outcomes over fossil fuel extraction and climate change. Competency, the legal authority to act, is an important concept in analysing the legal architecture of climate change mitigation. Without direct competency, many authorities may not act, especially if the decision is a contentious one or involves a competing set of diffuse aims. Political and public debate may encourage authorities to expand competences – it may also encourage authorities to refrain or interpret narrowly their sphere of competency. It follows that this has an impact on the consideration and recognition of climate (environmental) limits by authorities. If the nature of authority is such that it is assigned and held through law and democratic processes, and the concept of limits is one that is interpreted and applied by those in authority, ideas of ‘public’ responsibility become important, and in the fossil fuel extraction debate, the legal and ‘public’ assignment of responsibility for emissions and for mitigation is crucial to understand and make proposals for more effective legal architectures.