The Regional Working Group on Environmental Auditing (RWGEA) met in Canberra, Australia from 17 to 19 September 2024. The communiqué records the common themes emerging from the presentations and discussions from this hybrid event.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), in partnership with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Audit Office and PASAI, hosted the meeting.
Related media release: Pacific environmental auditors collaborate in regional meeting
Meeting attendees
Hagåtña, Guam: The Guam Office of Public Accountability (OPA) has released the flash report of the ClimateScanner© assessment of the Government of Guam’s (GovGuam) actions related to climate change. Our objective was to report the results of the assessment, and the scope of the assessment is from the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 through August 2024.
The ClimateScanner© Global Assessment is a priority project of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), currently chaired by the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) Brazil, the Federal Court of Accounts. ClimateScanner© is an initiative in which member SAIs participate in an assessment of their respective governments’ actions related to climate change. As the SAI for Guam, the OPA was invited to participate in this initiative to assess GovGuam’s actions towards climate change.
Government of Guam ClimateScanner© Assessment Results
There were 66 items for assessment. Results show that of the 66 items, GovGuam was rated at Advanced Implementation for 49 items, Intermediate Implementation for six items, and Early Implementation for five items. Six items were not applicable to GovGuam (explained in the Finance Axis section of this report).
Conclusion and Recommendations
This is the first-ever assessment of GovGuam’s action for climate change. These results will be consolidated with results from other participating member SAIs and presented to the Conference of Parties 29 at the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in November 2024. The assessment did not evaluate for the effectiveness of GovGuam’s climate change actions. It is OPA’s observation that improvements can be made on the transparency of GovGuam’s efforts in addressing climate change. We recommend for GovGuam to establish an overarching law or a legal or regulatory framework on climate change that would include reporting requirements and the centralization of GovGuam’s climate change action to increase public awareness, stakeholder engagement, and monitor progress.
GovGuam officials generally agreed with our conclusion and recommendation. They welcome a full performance audit on GovGuam’s effectiveness in addressing climate change action be conducted by OPA. An environmental performance audit will be considered as part of the Annual Audit Work Plan.
“I am very pleased that we participated in this global assessment, because now the rest of the world can see that Guam has been actively pursuing climate change action. I want to thank the government of Guam officials who provided evidence and most of the information that was needed to complete this assessment,” says Public Auditor Benjamin J.F. Cruz. “These results will guide the Office of Public Accountability with environmental performance audit projects for effectiveness, efficiency, and equity in climate change action.”
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For more information, please contact Selina Onedera-Salas at (671) 475-0390 ext. 207 or at sonederasalas@ugamopa.com.
You can also download the flash report from www.opaguam.org.
The Office of the Auditor General for Western Australia invites you to attend IMPACT 2025, the International Meeting of Performance Audit Critical Thinkers.
Established in 2016 as an initiative of the Australasian Council of Auditors-General (ACAG), the responsibility to host this biennial conference dedicated to public sector performance audit rotates among member offices.
Themed Performance Auditing with Insight, Influence and Independence, the 2025 conference will take place in Perth, Western Australia from 1 to 2 April. This in-person conference offers you a unique opportunity to share ideas and innovations with other auditing offices, discuss emerging topics and devise solutions to performance auditing issues in a time of increasing complexity and rapid change.
Tickets are now available via the conference website.
The highly competitive ACAG Performance Audit Awards winners will be announced during the conference dinner function, overlooking the beautiful Swan River and Government House gardens. Tickets to the dinner function are included in your conference registration; however, there are limited dinner seats available, so please book early to ensure you don’t miss out.
For all event enquiries, please contact impact25@eventandconferenceco.com.au.
