By: Vivi Niemenmaa

SAI Finland handed over the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) Chairmanship to SAI Thailand at the XXV INCOSAI. This article highlights our chairmanship period 2020-2025 with a focus on innovation, as well as key takeaways in organising meetings, communicating effectively, and investing in stakeholder relations. It also includes a set of tips that may provide inspiration for other Working Group Chairs.

Due to climate change, communities across the world are losing their homes to floods, crops to drought, and coastlines to rising seas. The financial risks related to lacking or poor adaptation are also growing. Governments have been responding with their plans and promises—but adaptation on the ground remains fragile. The recent Global Cooperative Audit of Climate Change Adaptation Actions (CCAA) from 54 SAIs revealed why adaptation is failing—and what Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) can do to change that trajectory.

The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) side event, “Innovations in Environmental Auditing”, at the INCOSAI spotlighted the latest innovations within the INTOSAI WGEA community. First, highlighting some of the recent innovations, Vivi Niemenmaa from the WGEA Secretariat introduced the new agile support system, Audit Clinic, that has been piloted in 2025 with outstanding feedback. This is a mechanism where SAIs can book a one-hour consultation slot with a more experienced SAI to discuss any environmental audit related issue. As another innovation, Dashiell Da Costa from SAI Brazil, revealed the first results of the second assessment round of the ClimateScanner, covering assessments from 100 SAIs. The official launch was foreseen in the COP30 Climate Conference.  

The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) has observed an increasing diversity in audits on climate action. In addition to climate change mitigation, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) are increasingly auditing climate change adaptation and social aspects. At the same time, developing country SAIs are becoming more engaged. The latest INTOSAI WGEA survey shows that SAIs’ interest in environmental audits and auditing climate action continues to grow. 

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are in the forefront of climate change facing the impacts first. This article sheds light on the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) activities in the area, the challenges in the PASAI WGEA regions, as well as special challenges from one of the most low-lying nations in the world, the Maldives.

With the pandemic ongoing, the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) held its 20th Assembly in January 2021 as a virtual event. The assembly’s main theme was “circular economy,” which encourages more sustainable consumption and production, and the more efficient use of resources. “We believe that the concept of circular economy will help us…