Perspectives on climate change in Canada – A collaborative report from Auditors General

Report ID: 291

To assess climate change action in Canada, provincial auditors general partnered with the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, which carried out audit work for the three territories in its role as independent auditor for Canada’s northern legislatures.

The overall objective of this collaborative project was to assess whether the federal, provincial, and territorial governments had met their commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. Although each audit office performed its work independently, the offices worked together to develop a set of common questions related to climate change action to be included in the auditors’ individual reports. he coordination of this work was done through the Office of the Auditor General of Canada by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. This is the first time that so many legislative audit offices in Canada coordinated their work in this way.

The report summarizes audit findings from the reports presented by the provincial audit offices and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada to the provincial, territorial, and federal legislatures. The reports of the participating audit offices were completed between November 2016 and March 2018.

In the planning of the audits, among others, the following model of cooperative audits were considered:

• The International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) Coordinated Audit on Climate Change 2010.
• The INTOSAI WGEA document Cooperation Between Supreme Audit Institutions: Tips and Examples for Cooperative Audits, 2007

Source:https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_otp_201803_e_42883.html

Collaborative Climate Change Audit Project: Process Chronicle and Lessons Learned

Report ID: 294

In order to assess the progress their governments have made on climate change action, from 2015 to 2018, the Auditors General of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan,   partnered with the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (Canada, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon), which carried out audit work for the three territories in its role as independent auditor for Canada’s northern legislatures.

This was the first time that so many legislative audit offices in Canada coordinated their work in this way. A project working group was formed in November 2015, consisting of auditors from participating audit offices. Their work culminated in the summary report tabled in Parliament in March 2018 called Perspectives on Climate Change Action in Canada: A Collaborative Report from Auditors General (Available at  https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/report/perspectives-con-climate-change-action-in-canada-a-collaborative-report-from-the-auditors-general).

The project team wrote a final report to document the process they used in the collaborative audit in order to assist those planning this kind of work in the future in Canada and elsewhere to assess issues of mutual interest and importance. The Lessons Learned report is divided in three parts.

• The first part chronicles the process developed and used to plan, conduct, report, and communicate during the project.
• The second part summarizes our efforts to identify lessons learned.
• The third part reflects on the above and provides some key perspectives from the Project Manager that could assist others doing similar work in the future.

In the planning of the audits, the report refers that, among others, the following model of cooperative audits were considered:

• The International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) Coordinated Audit on Climate Change 2010.
• The INTOSAI WGEA document Cooperation Between Supreme Audit Institutions: Tips and Examples for Cooperative Audits, 2007.

Source: https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/oth_201905_e_43380.html

Projet collaboratif d'audit sur le changement climatique : Chronique du processus et leçons apprises

Report ID: 295

Afin d'évaluer les progrès réalisés par leurs gouvernements en matière de lutte contre le changement climatique, de 2015 à 2018, les vérificateurs généraux de l'Alberta, de la Colombie-Britannique, du Manitoba, du Nouveau-Brunswick, de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, de la Nouvelle-Écosse, de l'Ontario, de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard et de la Saskatchewan, s'est associé au commissaire fédéral à l'environnement et au développement durable et au Bureau du vérificateur général du Canada (Canada,

Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Nunavut, Yukon), qui a effectué des travaux de vérification pour les trois territoires en sa qualité de vérificateur indépendant pour les assemblées législatives du Nord du Canada. C'était la première fois qu'un si grand nombre de bureaux de vérification législative au Canada coordonnaient leur travail de cette manière. Un groupe de travail a été formé en novembre 2015, composé de vérificateurs des bureaux de vérification participants. Leur travail a abouti au rapport de synthèse déposé au Parlement en mars 2018, intitulé Perspectives sur les mesures de lutte contre le changement climatique au Canada : Un rapport de collaboration des vérificateurs généraux (disponible à l'adresse https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/report/perspectives-sur-le-changement-climatique-au-canada-un-rapport-conjoint-des-vrificateurs-gnraux

L'équipe de projet a rédigé un rapport final pour documenter le processus utilisé dans l'audit collaboratif afin d'aider ceux qui planifient ce type de travail à l'avenir au Canada et ailleurs à évaluer les questions d'intérêt et d'importance mutuels. Le rapport sur les enseignements tirés est divisé en trois parties.

- La première partie décrit le processus développé et utilisé pour planifier, mener, rendre compte et communiquer au cours du projet.

- La deuxième partie résume nos efforts pour identifier les leçons apprises.

- La troisième partie réfléchit sur ce qui précède et fournit quelques perspectives clés du gestionnaire de projet qui pourraient aider d'autres personnes effectuant un travail similaire à l'avenir. Lors de la planification des audits,

Le rapport mentionne que, entre autres, le modèle suivant d'audits coopératifs a été envisagé : - Le groupe de travail de l'Organisation internationale des institutions supérieures de contrôle des finances publiques (INTOSAI) sur l'audit d'environnement (WGEA) a coordonné l'audit sur le changement climatique 2010. - Le document du GTVE de l'INTOSAI intitulé Coopération entre les institutions supérieures de contrôle : Tips and Examples for Cooperative Audits, 2007.

Source : https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/Francais/oth_201905_f_43380.html

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IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE LOS COMPROMISOS ASUMIDOS EN LA CONVENCIÓN MARCO DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS SOBRE CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO

Report ID: 332

En la VII Reunión de la COMTEMA  de la OLACEFS (Buenos Aires, abril de 2009), se propuso considerar el tema del Cambio Climático como eje central de las acciones de la Comisión, atendiendo a la preocupante situación ambiental y a la alta vulnerabilidad de los países de la región. Como resultado, se acordó realizar una auditoría en cooperación sobre Cambio climático. La auditoría en cooperación fue coordinada por la EFS de Brasil y contó con la participación de las EFS de: Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panamá, Paraguay y Perú.

El objetivo general de la auditoría fue evaluar la gestión desarrollada por los organismos y entidades gubernamentales de los países de la región responsables de la implementación de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático. Como objetivos específicos se abordaron:

- Evaluar el cumplimiento de los compromisos asumidos en la implementación de políticas, planes, programas y acciones gubernamentales con relación a la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático.

- Determinar si los gobiernos desarrollaron estrategias y planes de mitigación apropiados para cumplir con los compromisos adquiridos en la Convención y su grado de avance.

- Determinar si los gobiernos desarrollaron estrategias y planes de adaptación relacionados con la evaluación de la vulnerabilidad a los impactos del CC, y si los puso en práctica en respuesta a los riesgos evaluados.

La auditoría se desarrolló de conformidad con los lineamientos del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Auditoría Ambiental de la Organización Internacional de Entidades Fiscalizadoras Superiores (WGEA-INTOSAI) sobre el desarrollo de auditorías en cooperación. Así, los equipos de auditoría de cada EFS participante elaboraron reportes nacionales conforme a su normativa, a partir de líneas de investigación comunes, las cuales se detallan en el Anexo 1 del informe.

La auditoría reveló las restricciones y dificultades en el cumplimiento de los objetivos y metas establecidos en las políticas públicas, así como los riesgos asociados, en las diversas entidades gubernamentales responsables de la gestión del Cambio Climático.

Fuente: https://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/09.pdf

Emissions trading to limit climate change: Does it work?

Report ID: 417

The Supreme Audit Institutions play an important accountability role by reporting to parliaments on the efficient, effective and cost-effective implementation of, amongst other things, environmental and energy policies. Climate change is considered by both United Nations (UN) and EU as one of the biggest environmental, economic and social challenges, and needs to be addressed in a coordinated effort at an international level. Emissions trading is a key policy instrument in meeting national and the Kyoto Protocol emissions targets in a cost-effective way. The implementation of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the project-based mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol (the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI)) have been a huge administrative undertaking and entail new tasks and roles for governments and companies. There are potential risks related to the implementation of these systems as well as to their effectiveness. The aim of the cooperative audit has been to assess the trustworthiness, reliability and effectiveness of the EU ETS and project-based mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol. This report draws on findings gained from individual audit reports from seven countries in the years 2008–2012.