EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) aims to promote the involvement of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in international environmental audits in Europe and to exchange experiences in this field. The Office of the Auditor General of Norway is chairing the working group. As of 4 December 2008, 44 European SAI's are members of EUROSAI WGEA.

 

What's new

EUROSAI WGEA Seminar: Auditing Climate Change was held in Copenhagen, Denmark 23-24 March 2010

The main topic of the seminar was auditing climate change. The focus was on practical audit issues such as scope, audit questions, methodology and criteria. The presentations made are now available here.

Newsletter

Newsletter no. 2/2009.

Results of the 2009 EUROSAI WGEA questionnaire

70 % of the members responded to the questionnaire which was sent in the end of August. The results are being used for planning upcoming activities, seminar and meetings and to ensure that ongoing activities are in line with the needs of the members. Please see the full report .

The 7th EUROSAI WGEA Meeting 2009

The meeting report from the 7th EUROSAI WGEA Meeting in 2009 is now available. Please find the electronic version of the report here. A hard copy of the meeting report is sent to all EUROSAI WGEA members.

The 7th annual EUROSAI WGEA meeting was held 6-8 October 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted by the Bulgarian National Audit Office. Please see here for the presentations made at the meeting as well as other meeting materials. The topics were water management and use of external experts in audit projects.

Presentations from the one-day training course in auditing biodiversity issues are also available here.

The latest environmental audits

Emissions trading - flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol

The Finnish National Audit Office has conducted an audit evaluating the functioning and effectiveness of Finland's mechanism purchases. The flexible mechanisms are emissions trading, CDM and JI. The attention was focused on the planning and organisation of activities, the use of personell resources, financing practices and the monitoring of activities.

The audit found that purchasing activities have been satisfactory but could be improved. The National Audit Office considers that the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, which is responsible for preparing legislation regarding the Kyoto mechanisms, should carry out more detailed calculations particularly concerning funds' expected yield and costs and document these in connection with the monitoring of activities. The National Audit Office also considers that the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, in chairing the steering group for the Kyoto mechanisms, should strive to improve the planning of risk management in the steering group.

Download the pdf-document.

The EUROSAI Audit on Climate Change

In December 2009 the coordinated parallel EUROSAI Audit on Climate Change was finalised. The aim of the audit was to assess the actions taken in respective States regarding the implementation of the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission Directive (2003/87/EC) on the establishing of a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community, and/or the requirements of the national legislation.

The SAIs from Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine, as members of the EUROSAI WGEA, participated in the audit. The Supreme Audit Office of the Republic of Poland was Audit Coordinator.

For more information, please contact Alicja Gruszecka (Alicja_Gruszecka@nik.gov.pl). The full report is available through Environmental audits/Air.

Energy performance certificates

The Swedish National Audit Office has conducted an audit of the Swedish system for energy performance certificates, please see the press release for further information.