By Jonathan Keate, Senior Solicitor Sector Manager, Office of the Auditor-General in New Zealand
In November 2021, the United Kingdom will host COP26, a major United Nations (UN) climate change conference for countries to report on their progress and climate actions they have taken since the 2015 Paris Climate meeting [1]. With 30,000 participants expected, and intense scrutiny from media and interest groups likely, the conference will be a chance for countries and regions most vulnerable to climate change, including the Pacific, to draw attention to their challenges and the actions required.
This blog post outlines PASAI training and resources to support SAIs to conduct performance audits on environmental issues, areas of interest and possible future audit topics in the Pacific region.
PASAI training and environmental audit resources
PASAI ran two online workshops in late July 2021 to support SAIs considering environmental audits in their work programmes. This training prominently featured climate change and explained the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The workshops enhanced participants’ awareness of sustainable development and the potential social and economic effects of government environmental programs on the wider community.
SAIs should play the primary role in assessing government actions that aim to respond to environmental pressures or improve environmental outcomes over time. Many SAIs have already conducted environmental audits with support from INTOSAI’s Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA).
The training confirmed most environmental audits are performance audits, where SAIs use their performance audit mandates to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency or economy (the ‘three Es’) of environmental topics.
The discussion about environmental audits and the ‘three Es’ resonated with participants, as well as the fact that environmental issues should not be viewed in isolation. This is because environmental topics often require a long-term view to be taken and have social and financial/economic considerations (the sustainable development concept).
Videos used in the workshops are now available online [2]. They include links to an interactive map which shows how various countries are progressing against the SDGs and to all the WGEA resources and training available for SAIs doing environmental audits. SAI staff who missed the workshops are still welcome to contact us with any questions about these resources.
Opportunities and challenges
Participants showed enthusiasm to conduct more environmental audits. Ideas and comments included:
The ‘blue economy’ is an emerging area. This is the interaction of environmental, social, and financial aspects of the marine environment, including for deep sea oil and gas exploration and fisheries.
Environmental topics are often of high public interest. SAIs should be able to take advantage of this interest to create impact and engagement with their audits, and to increase the visibility of environmental issues they report on.
Accessing climate finance can be challenging for Pacific countries even though needs are pressing and urgent.
Access to data and subject matter experts can be difficult, especially if the experts have already worked for the auditee.
Future audit topics for the Pacific
SAI Kosrae is planning a follow up audit of a previous environmental audit undertaken as part of the PASAI cooperative performance audit (CPA) programme [3]. Other SAIs that participated in the CPA programme could do a follow up audit on one of the CPA topics. This would be a good way to re-start environmental audit activity and get some newer staff involved.
Workshop participants mentioned the freshwater pools of a Guam sea cave, a popular destination to both locals and tourists alike, have been filled with mud due to a lack of erosion control measures from a nearby development project. In addition, oil leakages from World War II shipwrecks in Micronesia are possible and would likely damage the marine environment if no preventative measures are taken.
These are examples of potential performance audit topics, depending on SAI capacity, resourcing and other audit priorities.
The WGEA is currently working on the topics of sustainable transport, plastic waste, and climate finance. Each of these topics link closely to an SDG. Plastic waste and climate finance are good environmental audit topics for the Pacific region, as both are linked to the marine environment.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a well-known issue but it’s just one plastic waste problem contributing to environmental degradation.
PASAI and the RWGEA can support PASAI members with environmental audits. This support may include focused training on auditing plastic waste, climate finance or any common area of interest in the region.
What’s next?
Future topics in our series include:
SAI crisis management team methodology
Human resource management
We welcome feedback and look forward to hearing about your areas of interest. Please email secretariat@pasai.org.
Footnotes
[1] COP26 is the 26th meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties to the 1994 convention.
[2] Basics of environmental auditing and Crash course on the SDGs.
[3] The CPA programme began as part of the Pacific Regional Audit Initiative, a capacity building programme for the region, with support from PASAI, the Asian Development Bank, the INTOSAI Development Initiative, the Australian and New Zealand governments, and the RWGEA.
The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is the official association of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Pacific region, promoting transparent, accountable, effective and efficient use of public sector resources in the Pacific. It contributes to that goal by helping its member SAIs improve the quality of public sector auditing in the Pacific to recognised high standards. Our blog includes topics that may help auditors think about some implications to service delivery because of the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
