Audit Director Chris Genet has found a growing demand from communities for good information on council efforts to tackle climate change.
Climate change
This collection pulls together all our resources – performance audit reports, blog posts, guidance documents, submissions to decision-making or standard-setting agencies – for auditors, public organisations, and the public, about climate change.
The Auditor-General has a strong interest in making sure that public organisations approach all their climate change-related activity – including governance, planning, risk management, data collection, and reporting – with integrity. Doing so will help ensure that public organisations are able to provide New Zealanders with transparent, meaningful, and understandable information about the organisation’s responses to, and how it is affected by, climate change. It will also facilitate the public sector’s effective and efficient transition to a lower carbon economy.
The Auditor-General’s expectations for public organisations are:
- that governing bodies and senior management teams monitor climate change risks and closely oversee the climate change activity, data, and reporting of their organisation;
- that emissions information is measured and reported clearly – the information must be credible, comparable, transparent, as well as understandable;
- that emissions targets, actions, achievements, progress, and the terminology used are well considered, accurate, and honest (that is, no deliberate or inadvertent “greenwashing”); and
- that reporting on the expected effects of climate change on a public organisation is based on a robust assessment (including risks and opportunities) of the effects on its activities and assets.
Where appropriate, the Auditor-General expects:
- robust planning for how a public organisation will strengthen the resilience of its communities and infrastructure;
- transparent reporting of spending and achievements from specific climate change funding; and
- appropriate monitoring of a public organisation’s performance in meeting its stated targets.
Although identifying, managing, and reporting on climate targets, outcomes, and progress is new and, at times, difficult, it is arguably one of the most important challenges facing New Zealand’s public sector.
The Auditor-General recognises that meeting this challenge will require collaboration, innovation, and a shared commitment to high-quality climate change reporting. We welcome hearing from other parties who might be working toward similar goals.
Assessing New Zealand’s climate change response with ClimateScanner
7 November 2024: Our office is one of more than 100 audit institutions participating in the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions’ ClimateScanner initiative. ClimateScanner requires supreme audit institutions to assess how governments are responding to climate change. This report summarises the results of our rapid assessment. It provides a broad overview of government actions to respond to climate change and highlights areas for improvement.
How well four councils are responding to a changing climate
5 November 2024: We looked at the actions of Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council, Nelson City Council, and Whanganui District Council in responding to the local impacts of climate change. All four councils are making progress with their responses to climate change and doing so in an uncertain and evolving national policy environment.
After time away to have her first child, Amy Hamilton returns to find that greenwashing is still posing a risk to trust and confidence and the level of interest in climate-related disclosures is on the rise.
Carbon targets and ambiguity: The scrutiny to expect from an auditor
18 June 2024: This article clarifies the Auditor-General’s expectations and the auditor’s approach to statements about greenhouse gas targets and emissions reduction progress reported by public organisations.
Accounting for climate change
10 May 2024: We have produced a guide to considering the implications of climate costs, risks, and uncertainties in your financial reporting.
Recent weather events – including the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 – have highlighted the need for organisations to prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate change, including reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Sagar Adhau discusses the implications of climate change in financial reporting.
Our intentions: How well councils are implementing climate change actions
9 November 2023: This performance audit will look at how well a selection of councils are putting their climate change strategies, commitments, and plans into action
Standards, laws, and regulations play an important role in supporting credible and transparent reporting about climate change. Amy Hamilton describes how we’re actively providing submissions on draft standards, laws, and regulations to try to get really good reporting for New Zealanders.
Auditor-General John Ryan reflects on the need for public organisations to maintain integrity in meeting new climate reporting requirements in a high public interest area and to avoid ‘greenwashing’.
Associate Director Amy Hamilton already cared about climate change and the part our business units can play to address it. Now that she’s about to have her first child, the work is even more important. While Amy’s midwife monitors the health of her baby, it's up to us to monitor the health of our environment.
Part 6: Climate change
Matters arising from our audits of the 2021-31 long-term plans.
Part 4: Climate change matters disclosed in the 2021-31 consultation documents
Consulting matters: Observations on the 2021-31 consultation documents.
Part 5: Councils' activity on climate change
Insights into local government: 2019
Responding to a changing climate
Sector Manager Kristin Aitken from our Local Government team delves into some of the terms used by councils and experts in their efforts to address the effects of climate change. She also takes a look at what councils are already doing, and what they need to consider for their next long-term plans.
Part 6: How have councils considered resilience?
Matters arising from our audits of the 2018-28 long-term plans.
Part 4: Activities to reduce and manage greenhouse gas emissions
Local government: Results of the 2009/10 audits.