Making limits matter: examining decision-making on shale gas development in relation to environmental impact

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Luhde-Thompson, Naomi (2023). Making limits matter: examining decision-making on shale gas development in relation to environmental impact. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Society faces an unprecedented existential threat in the form of climate change impacts. Driving those impacts is a continued societal reliance on the extraction and exploitation of fossil fuels for energy use which are fuelling a level of greenhouse gas emissions that is hugely significant in global environmental change. These global impacts prompt reflection on whether environmental law has failed – failed to curb damaging emissions, failed to recognise emission limits, failed to ensure environmental protection. Taking the regulation of unconventional fossil fuel extraction as a basis for examining the extent to which environmental law has failed or succeeded, throws the question of environmental limits into the sharpest relief. Unconventional fossil fuels are subject to a highly political and publicly contested debate, one that is germane to the urgent need to reduce climate change emissions. Examining the decision-making processes for consenting and permitting the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels - in action and in practice - is an opportunity to discover the extent to which sustainable development, incorporating the concept of environmental limits, matters in the outcome. Every decision to permit extraction of fossil fuels contributes to the overall global impact of climate change. Analysing how these decisions are made is informed by considering the extent of authorities’ competence, the aims within the framework, and how substantive environmental rights and procedural rights shape the process and the integrity of the law. Findings from the documentary evidence and fieldwork research show that there is an asymmetry in the content of the decision making process, relative to decision-makers and participants; and that there is an imbalance in the context of the decision making process, relative to decision-makers and participants. Those in power do not ascribe to the same sense of responsibility, while participants in the decision making process lack the power but assume that responsibility. While limits are present in the content and context of decision-making, there is a failure to make them matter in the final outcome, as cumulative impacts are only partially addressed through the legal framework.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):