Audit of the CO2 emissions trading systems

Report ID: 47

The Nordic–Baltic–Polish cooperative audit on emissions trading was performed in 2012 and involved the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden.1 The report builds on 13 individual national audit reports.

The aim of the cooperative audit was to assess:

• the effectiveness of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in reducing national greenhouse gas emissions or fostering technology development
• the proper functioning of the EU ETS: national registries, greenhouse gas emissions permits and emissions reporting
• the implementation and administration of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) programmes.

There are clear indications from the cooperative audit that the emissions limitation targets adopted in the Kyoto Protocol or through the EU Burden Sharing Agreement are likely to be met in all seven countries by the end of the first Kyoto Protocol commitment period (end of 2012). The countries have implemented the EU ETS in line with the current EU legislation and the provisions under the UNFCCC. However, the effectiveness of the system in reducing emissions is a major challenge. For the Nordic countries the EU ETS provided little incentive for long-term reductions in CO2 emissions as allowance prices have been low due to a general surplus of allowances in the system during the period 2008–2012. Taking into account the slower economic
growth than expected, emissions trading did not provide a strong market mechanism that has raised the costs of emissions related to production and given a competitive advantage to cleaner production.

The audits for Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have shown that emissions have increased at a slower pace than economic growth. However, in this audit it has not been possible to measure whether this can be attributed to the effectiveness of the EU ETS.

Source: https://www.nik.gov.pl/plik/id,4464,vp,5704.pdf

Audit of national parks

Report ID: 48

The cooperative audit of national parks was performed in 2013–2014 and involved the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine. The report builds on the seven individual national audit reports.

The main objectives of the cooperative audit were:

• to assess if national parks are managed appropriately;
• to address the challenges regarding the conservation and protection of biodiversity in national parks;
• to evaluate whether public funds are being spent in the best way, allowing the goals of national parks to be achieved.

The audit results show that national parks in most of the participating countries are, in general, performing their functions and working towards achieving the goals set by their respective governments. The countries have employed different models of governance to national parks, but they all need an appropriate management plan as a precondition for the administration of each national park; this is in order to have specific guidelines for their work and for the conservation of nature and use of the national parks. The audit shows that not all authorities ensure that their national parks have a management plan. The involvement of local stakeholders in the management of national parks can give the national parks more legitimacy.

There is a potential conflict of interests between the use of national parks and the protection of nature against threats to the national parks. The public authorities are responsible for the management and protection of national parks for future generations.

The audit shows that the majority of funds allocated to national parks come from the state budgets of the respective countries. Some national parks depend on other sources of income as well. Raising additional income may be in conflict with the protection and conservation of nature.

Audit of the Internal Control System of the Structural Funds

Report ID: 72

All SAIs have expressed that the organisational set-ups of the internal management and control system installed for the audited programmes were found to be in line with Community regulations and generally capable of ensuring an efficient internal control.

All the participating countries have made the necessary steps for the implementation of a proper and adequate internal control system required by the Community legislation.
Depending on the individual programming processes the National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRFs) have been developed, submitted to and approved by the European Commission. The programs and the priority axes selected for audit have the necessary consistency with the NSRFs.

The organisational structure in the participating countries has been established in line with Community regulations. The segregation of duties of the different authorities gives sufficient evidence for the separation of management, disbursement and audit functions.

National legislation was, however, not always able to implement national rules together with the programming and implementation of the individual projects. The experiences in this field differ from country to country depending on their federal or central administration structure.

The requirements of the partnership were considered in the audited programs. Based on the documentation available at the authorities (minutes, communication efforts, interviews with partners involved) no signs were identified that would question the adherence to Community rules in this field.

AUDITORIA COORDENADA SOBRE HABITAÇÃO SOCIAL

Report ID: 301

 O tema da habitação social é central para a realidade da América Latina e das Caraíbas, dada a elevada percentagem da população que vive actualmente em condições precárias. Dada a inquestionável importância social e económica da habitação social na região, no âmbito do Grupo de Trabalho de Auditoria de Obras Públicas (GTOP) do OLACEFS, foi realizada uma auditoria coordenada sobre este tema. As ISC da Argentina, Brasil (Coordenador de Auditoria), Chile, Colômbia, Costa Rica, Honduras, México, Paraguai e República Dominicana participaram na auditoria, a qual teve o apoio da GIZ.

O objectivo da auditoria foi verificar se as políticas de habitação social e os projectos de construção em cada país participante estavam em conformidade com todos os aspectos e recomendações que a Comissão Económica para a Europa das Nações Unidas (UNECE/ONU) apresentou no documento intitulado Guidelines on Social Housing - Principles and Examples (2006), considerado essencial para determinar se a habitação é adequada e também se os objectivos quantitativos estabelecidos para a construção de unidades habitacionais foram definidos e estão a ser cumpridos. Para o efeito, foram revistas as leis e outros regulamentos aplicáveis aos programas de habitação auditados e foi inspeccionada fisicamente uma amostra de 64 unidades/projectos de habitação concluídos, distribuídos por cada país participante, que no seu conjunto totalizam 36.633 habitações.

Source: https://www.olacefs.com/26-10-2016informe-internacional-de-la-auditoria-coordinada-sobre-vivienda-social-portugues/ 

Traduzido com  www.DeepL.com/Translator

Nature conservation of the Lake Fert

Report ID: 74

The region Lake Neusiedl/Fertő is a cross border landscape, unique in the world. The area around Lake Neusiedl/Fertő and that of the Hungarian Hanság, with the still existing areas of the formerly huge swamp and marsh-land, is a rare island of nature at the meeting-point of the two countries. The lake is the third largest standing water of Central Europe, its age is estimated at some 20 thousand years. Its length is 35 kilometres, width 7-15 kilometres, its surface area is 315 km², three quarters of it are in Austria, the Hungarian area is approximately 75 km². Its catchment area is 1,230 km², which is four times bigger than the lake itself. The natural water management of Lake Neusiedl/Fertő is mostly depending on precipitation and evaporation, influx and discharge are neglectable Water supply is provided through two streams, the lake does not have a natural outflow; its water can be let out only in an artificial way, through Hanság Channel, by opening the lock gate. The lake is characterised by shallow water, the great extent of the fluctuation of the water level, and the mild salt contents. The Southern (Hungarian) side of the lake is 80% taken up by reeds, in places its width reaches 5-6 kilometres; this zone of reeds provides the characteristic shape of the appearance of the lake, and it furthermore has a decisive affect on the water balance and the water quality of the lake.

The region around Lake Neusiedl/Fertő has a unique significance from the aspect of fauna and flora, the landscape, ethnography and the history of culture. From the ornithological point of view the area of Lake Neusiedl/Fertő is one of the most remarkable sites in Europe. More than 300 species of birds (150 of them breeding in the region), including many rare and endangered species, were observed.
In Austria the region consists of the Lake Neusiedl/Fertő and its reed belt and Western foreground terrain and the so–called Seewinkel. Salty ponds (“Lacken”) without any water contributor or drain with a depth of approximately 0.5 metres are characteristic for the Seewinkel.

On Austrian territory there are a landscape protection area, five nature protection areas, a protected habitat and the National Park Neusiedler See–Seewinkel. International appreciation was attained with the declaration as a Biosphere Reserve of the UNESCO, as protected area of the RAMSAR–convention, as an European Biogenetic Reserve and as a national park of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) category II. Furthermore, the region was declared as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO and nominated as a protected area of the EU–Birdprotection and Habitat directives.

The joint opening of Lake Fertő National Park, which was established in Hungary in 1991 and was alled so in that time, and of the Austrian National Park, established in 1992 with an area of 9500 hectare took place in April 1994. Thus, the total area of the national parks forming a single ecological unit exceeds 33 thousand hectares. Its Hungarian part is 23.6 thousand hectares, which also contains the areas lying farther away from Lake Neusiedl/Fertő.
The so-called Fertõ land with a territory of approx. 12.5 thousand hectare can be considered an adjoining
area.

The geographical location of Lake Neusiedl/Fertő, as well as the international obligations, poses common
tasks for the two countries. In course of their activities, the Hungarian and Austrian national parks and water management agencies work together in organised forms. The joint activity was the reason for the co-ordinated audit by the supreme audit institutions of the two countries.

The audits were regularity audits as well as performance audits, focusing on the efficiency and effectiveness
of resources spent, and ecological issues of already implemented and planned programmes and measures. Intention of the audit was to reveal conflicts in the use of the region, to elaborate possibilities to solve them and to evaluate the bilateral co-operation.