I've been reading a lot into delay studies recently and very few explicitly refer to intent. Often intent is implicit or simply assumed (e.g. oil exec -> presumed intent to delay).

Have to read up on this, I am trying to write something on it from an historical perspective. Generally I would say intent is hard to get at but as you mention below there are some ways to adress it. Further I think some conceptual confusion adds to the problem of assessing intent

But there may be other ways to think about this, like considering actor histories (have they propagated climate denial in the past?), organisational networks (are they connected to climate obstruction think tanks?), or conflicting stances (e.g. on climate and social policy)