Media release: New global tool assesses public sector’s climate change response

National audit institutions from around the world are getting involved to advance the global response to climate change.

“All governments need to take action to respond to climate change and its effects,” says the Auditor-General John Ryan. “The international consensus is that, to manage global temperature rise, action is needed in the next decade. A comprehensive and collective response is critical to adapting to a changing climate and to reducing its impacts.”

ClimateScanner is a global initiative to independently assess how governments around the world are responding to climate change. National audit institutions participate by using a shared method to assess whether countries have public sector frameworks, structures, policies, and plans in place to respond to climate change. The appropriateness or effectiveness of climate policies are not evaluated in the ClimateScanner assessment.

The Office of the Auditor-General was part of a group of audit institutions that developed ClimateScanner’s review methodology. To date, more than 100 national audit institutions worldwide are involved in this initiative. Participants include audit institutions from across the Pacific, a region where climate change is a particularly pressing issue.

The Auditor-General’s staff have completed the first assessment for New Zealand. The assessment looked at the Government’s response to climate change across three broad areas (governance, public policies, and finance), and assigned ratings based on the level of implementation they saw.

“My Office’s ClimateScanner assessment for New Zealand shows that, in many ways, our legislative framework is a strength of our response to climate change,” says Mr Ryan. “However, New Zealand did not rate as highly in other areas and the public sector needs to make improvements in some key areas to respond to these challenges.”

In particular, New Zealand’s ClimateScanner assessment indicates that central and local government need formal mechanisms to systematically work together on climate change policy. Another key finding is that public reporting on spending for climate initiatives needs to improve.

“As I have noted elsewhere, the current structure of financial reporting in the public sector rarely provides information in a way that allows Parliament and the public to connect the goals the Government is trying to achieve with public spending and reporting on progress. Climate change is no exception,” Mr Ryan says.

The New Zealand assessment also highlights that more needs to be done to progress plans for reducing emissions and adapting to climate change in certain sectors.

“Responding to climate change is complex and challenging. There is much more to do,” says Mr Ryan. “Public organisations should consider the strengths and weaknesses that this report and further reports produced by my Office, the Climate Change Commission, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment identify. I encourage them to act with urgency to attend to those areas that need improvement.”

Brazil’s national audit office (the Federal Court of Accounts) is consolidating completed ClimateScanner assessments to create a global overview of efforts to address climate change. Some preliminary results will be presented at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan from 11-22 November.

The Auditor-General also intends to consider the ClimateScanner results to help identify specific areas where the Office might carry out further work in the future.

ENDS