The Seminar Summaries special report from the 22nd INTOSAI WGEA Assembly, held 22-24 January 2024, is now available on our website. The special report is based on the first day of the Assembly, which focused on Arctic Environmental Change and Indigenous Knowledge. The report summarizes the main disc…
The INTOSAI WGEA surveys which overview the global public sector environmental audit practices have been conducted among the INTOSAI members in every three years since early 1990s, each culminating with a report presenting the latest state-of-the-art environmental audit set-up and practices, substan…
The INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat published a blog post in March on the recent expansion of the WGEA with three new members in 2023. In relation to this, SAI Vietnam and SAI Nepal provided short commentaries on their new membership and aspirations to join the working group. Both SAIs expressed their eage…
The webinar “PEFA and PEFA Climate: useful aspects for SAIs?”, held 14 March, is now available on the INTOSAI WGEA Youtube channel. The webinar discusses the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) framework featuring presentations from Srinivas Gurazada (Head of PEFA Secretariat) and…
The 22nd INTOSAI WGEA Assembly Expert Interview videos are now available on the INTOSAI WGEA Youtube channel. The videos feature interviews on themes discussed at the Assembly such as environmental change in the Arctic, indigenous knowledge, sustainability reporting as well advancing sustainability …
INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat will organize a Webinar on PEFA and PEFA Climate: useful aspects for SAIs?. The event will take place on Teams on Thursday 14 March at 12:00-13:00 UTC (8:00-9:00 AM Washington DC time / 14:00-15:00 Helsinki time). Webinar speakers are Srinivas Gurazada (Head of PEFA Secretar…
The INTOSAI WGEA Greenlines Newsletter’s latest edition was published in January. The edition’s feature story focuses on planetary health, where Professor Ilona M. Otto describes how systems supporting human life on Earth are in distress due to global warming. The article also addresses what kinds o…
The recordings of the first day of the 22nd INTOSAI WGEA Assembly have now been published on the Secretariat’s Youtube-channel. The sessions can be found as individual videos to enable watching only a specific session.
The opening session kicked off the Assembly with broad introductions to the topics…
The 22nd INTOSAI WGEA Assembly was held in Rovaniemi, Finland, 22 – 24 January 2024. On the last day of the Assembly, participants gathered together to discuss the themes raised throughout the Assembly. This is the first time the Assembly discusses key takeaways. After the 21st Assembly, the Secreta…
On 25 January 2024, following the 22nd Assembly, the INTOSAI WGEA Steering Committee held an additional meeting. Among other things, it discussed the new INTOSAI WGEA publication products, the role of subnational audit offices, and the enhancement of the WGEA Chairmanship structure in a situation wh…
The 22nd INTOSAI WGEA Assembly was held in Rovaniemi, Finland, 22 – 24 January 2024. The meeting gathered 120 participants from 43 countries. It was a nice mixture of WGEA veterans, newcomers, and lively discussions throughout the meeting.
As the temperatures in Rovaniemi varied between 0 and -20°C, …
Registrations now open to the online course "Auditing Water Issues", starting 29 January!
All interested in online training on auditing water management are encouraged to sign up to the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Auditing Water Issues” running from 29 January to 25 February 2024. The fully o…
The year 2023 has been full of successful happenings and contributions for the INTOSAI WGEA. The year was kicked off with the introduction of the new Work Plan 2023-2025. The work plan’s projects are categorized under two thematic hubs, climate and biodiversity, in addition to green economy. Themati…
Check out WGEA's newest blog post Climate crisis cannot be tackled without attention to biodiversity by Tiina Piiroinen, Uula Saastamoinen and Marianne Aulake from the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke). The post introduces central findings of the literature review on Climate - Biodiversity Nexus …
The meeting slides are available here.
In the spirit of enhancing knowledge and understanding how to assess the effectiveness and impact of green fiscal policy tools on environment and climate, the European Court of Auditors in collaboration with the INTOSAI WGEA are organizing a webinar (an audit p…
The INTOSAI WGEA is proud to co-organise two events at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai Expo City. Read the latest updates on these events in this news post which is updated on a rolling basis. In addition to the events, the WGEA published a bulletin compiling the WGEA wo…
The INTOSAI WGEA has published a literature review on Climate – biodiversity nexus: Relationship of climate change mitigation and biodiversity policy measures that was commissioned by the National Audit Office of Finland from the Finnish Environment Institute. As the nexus between climate change and…
In conjunction with the upcoming 22nd INTOSAI WGEA Assembly, the Secretariat in collaboration with SAI Maldives proudly announces a call for nominations for the 3rd INTOSAI WGEA Award - Inspiration in Environmental Auditing. The topic of this year’s Award is Impactful Environmental Audit. The call i…
Check out the newest blog post by Margaux Lelong's.
Dealing with climate change - and with the other pressing issues of sustainability requires a budgetary response. The OECD has been working with Member Countries to identify and share best practice - notably through the Paris Collaborative on Green…
In September the Secretariat sent out the invitations to the next WGEA Assembly, which will be hosted by the National Audit Office of Finland in Rovaniemi on 22-24 January 2024. The meeting is intended for INTOSAI WGEA member SAIs and key stakeholders. The registration deadline is 25 September. The…
The aim of the course is to give an overview of main environmental management principles, discuss the importance and complexity of the concept of sustainable development, introduce the most common governance tools that are used in environmental management, and put all this into practical environment…
On August 9, the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) sent the ClimateScanner Global Survey form to the 196 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) that comprise the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The online questionnaire will allow SAIs to map their climate chang…
The International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) is organizing an International Webinar 25 and 26 September 2023 followed by the 11th International Training Programme 4-16 December 2023 and an International Workshop 5-9 February 2024.
More information on the events …
The INTOSAI WGEA contributed to this year’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) held during 10-19 July in New York, USA by organizing a side event on 13 July entitled Moving towards full SDG implementation by partnering for greater impact of SDG audits in collaboration with …
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) holds an audit database that includes many relevant audits on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are under review at the High Level Political Forum 2023. The audits on SDG 6 Clean Water, SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy as well a…
International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) is organizing an International Webinar on “Multi-dimensional Aspects of Auditing Blue Economy” in July 2023. This event is held virtually in two batches with different timings on 13th of July and 14th of July to enable wid…
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing has started to implement a new Work Plan 2023-2025. The Work Plan projects are organised under two thematic hubs: climate and biodiversity, as well as green economy. This blog shines light on problems related to these topics, the new WGEA projects,…
The INTOSAI WGEA collaborates with two global projects on climate change.
The Federal Court of Accounts of Brazil’s initiative, ClimateScanner, is a global assessment of government actions related to climate change. The ClimateScanner will work as a tool for rapid reviews of government actions rel…
The United Nations 2023 Water Conference started yesterday. Many Supreme Audit Institutions have audited water topics and you can find them in the @INTOSAIWGEA audit database: Audit by Issue (wgea.org).
For example, SAI Denmark audited the groundwater as a source of drinking water in 2019. Almost al…
The 19th INTOSAI WGEA Steering Committee meeting takes place in Rabat, Morocco 13-16 March. This is the first Steering Committee meeting under the work plan for 2023-2025. It brings together participants from 20 different member SAIs with the aim to kick off the projects under the new work plan. The…
The aim of this course is to give an overview of what infrastructure is and how it is developed, but also to elaborate on the role of audit institutions within the infrastructure development process and the stages that are most important to auditors.
Please refer here for more information and regist…
The INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat would like to wish everyone a great start to the new year. The year 2022 was an eventful one especially as the working group held in first hybrid Assembly in cooperation with the Auditor General Office of Maldives. It has also been heartening to notice the growing intere…
The WGEA Secretariat wishes to thank INTOSAI WGEA members for this year as well as the whole 2020-2022, which was the first WGEA Chairmanship period of SAI Finland. This period has been peculiar with a global pandemic, but also full of innovations on how we can keep on working together remotely.
We…
Just as the climate focused COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh has come to an end, another important Conference of the Parties is about to begin. The COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is taking place from 7 – 19 December 2022 in Montreal. The aim of this year’s conference is for governments t…
All interested in online training on environmental auditing are welcome to take part in two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) running from January to April 2023.
Registration to the courses is open on the links below:
INTOSAI WGEA organized a webinar in the context of the UN Conference of Parties of the Climate Change Convention, this year known as COP27. We had a great line-up of speakers from the SAIs of Brazil, Canada, the Maldives, the EU, USA and INTOSAI Development Initiative. As climate change affects ever…
The Seminar Summary on Raising Resilience is finally out! Together with SAI Maldives we have compiled the contents of the first day of the 21st INTOSAI WGEA Assembly into this interactive Booklet.
The Booklet aims to shine a light on the concept of resilience and the importance of climate resilience…
Art has always played an important role in addressing the world around us. Now, more than ever, art has a major role in addressing the most pressing issues of the 21st century: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Art and artists can engage people with new perspectives on these press…
INTOSAI WGEA Members in coordination with the WGEA Secretariat will continue supporting peer SAIs by providing training on environmental auditing. As per Work Plan 2023-2025, SAI Estonia will continue to deliver several massive open online courses (MOOCs) and iCED in India will provide annually both…
INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) was founded in 1992. The 30th anniversary of the WGEA was celebrated on July 6, 2022, at the 21st INTOSAI WGEA Assembly. In celebration of the anniversary, the WGEA Secretariat contacted previous WGEA Chairs, Secretaries General, and other key a…
As the Work Plan period 2020-2022 is coming to an end, the INTOSAI WGEA is proud to publish its five final Work Packages. These Work Packages focus on five different thematic areas:
International Centre for Environment Audit & Sustainable Development (iCED) is organising an online Webinar on “Clean Water and Sanitation” (26th and 27th September 2022), 10th International Training Programme (ITP) on “Introduction to Environmental Auditing” (from 28th November to 10th December…
INTOSAI WGEA is taking part in organizing a side event in the context of the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on 15 July with the General Secretariat of INTOSAI and INTOSAI Development Initiative. The Side Event is co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Austria and Indones…
In 2022, the INTOSAI WGEA is celebrating its 30th anniversary and our close partner United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year also marks the 30th Anniversary of the Rio Conference. To celebrate these anniversaries, we have released a short introductor…
The CPA report prepared by SAI Philippines is published in the context of the INTOSAI WGEA Work Plan 2020-2022, under the Work Package 6 on experience sharing and capacity building.
SAI Philippines has developed a new innovative approach in the context of environmental auditing that involves taking …
The 21st INTOSAI WGEA Assembly meeting will be held on July 4-6 and the first time in a hybrid format. This year, the host of the Assembly is SAI Maldives. Due to the uncertainties caused by the pandemic, the number of the participants invited physically to the Maldives will be limited, at least for…
The WGEA Secretariat has published a new blog series which aims to explore different and relevant environmental topics and audit questions.
The first blog post gives an overview of the environmental costs of armed conflicts. This perspective is often understandably overlooked due to the social imp…
Since the beginning of 2022, the WGEA Secretariat has had a significant change in staff. In January 2022, Project Advisor Sari Aroalho joined Secretary General, Vivi Niemenmaa, in the WGEA Secretariat. Sari graduated with a master’s degree in geography from the University of Helsinki, and she is a p…
As of 1 January 2022, Mr Sami Yläoutinen has been appointed as the Auditor General of the National Audit Office of Finland and with this, he has taken on the role of Chair of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Audit.
Mr Yläoutinen transferred to the NAOF from the Finnish Ministry of Finance,…
iCED's International Workshop on “Combating Desertification, Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture” will be organized virtually in two batches from 14.02.2022 to 16.02.2022 & from 16.02.2022 to 18.02.2022.
Nomination form:
The last date to receive nominations is 31 January…
In the context of COP26, the INTOSAI WGEA prepared a bulletin in collaboration with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which summarizes the work of the WGEA and SAIs on climate. The aim of the bulletin is to help SAIs to discuss the growing importance of risks related to the climate and prov…
Every three years, INTOSAI WGEA publishes a survey on the state of environmental auditing globally. The report was published now for the 10th time on 10 December.
The report “Environmental and climate audits on the rise” gives an overview of the audits SAIs have conducted and plan to undertake, th…
All interested in online training on environmental auditing are welcome to take part in two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) running from January to April 2022:
A recording and the presentations from INTOSAI WGEA COP26 Webinar: The role of auditors in the global climate challenge held 8 November 2021 are now available.
The webinar presented a versatile range of SAI audit examples from Brazil, Canada, UK, USA, the European Court of Auditors, and the Pacific …
The INTOSAI WGEA Steering Committee held its 18th meeting on 20 – 24 September in an online format. In addition to addressing the ongoing Work Packages, we discussed plans for a future strategy reaching up to 2030 in a future strategy workshop. The workshop was kicked off with an inspirational speec…
All interested in online training on environmental auditing are welcome to register to two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) taking place this autumn:
The INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat has released two training videos on environmental auditing and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The videos can be used and shared freely.
The first is an introductory lesson on environmental auditing. Dr Vivi Niemenmaa provides an overview of the evolution of enviro…
We are pleased to inform that SAI India’s International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) is organising three events on environmental audit in the upcoming months.
on 6 and 7 September 2021 (two batches)
Regist…
The INTOSAI WGEA database has been a valuable source of information and benchmarking for SAIs around the world for over two decades. Therefore, we are pleased to inform that from now on the INTOSAI WGEA database can be updated on an ongoing basis. Rather than inserting all the environmental audits…
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing just conducted its 10th Survey on Environmental Auditing. This global survey that we send to all SAIs, not only our 79 Members, is realized every three years. While we are still analysing the results in the Secretariat, here is a small preview on o…
The INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat is pleased to inform that the 10th Survey on Environmental Auditing was launched 9th of April.
INTOSAI WGEA surveys have been conducted by each INTOSAI WGEA Chair every three years since the early 1990s. The questionnaire responses have valuably contributed to planning…
It has been one month since our 20th INTOSAI WGEA Assembly meeting. The minutes are on their way and the Seminar Summary on Circular Economy will be published in the upcoming weeks. Before publishing these official documents, we would like to take you back to the highlights of the Assembly meeting w…
International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) is organizing an International Workshop on Biodiversity 22-24 February 2021 and on 1-3 March 2021. Both workshops have the same content. The deadline for the nominations for the first slot of the workshop is already in 10 …
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing handed out first INTOSAI WGEA Award – Inspiration in Environmental Auditing for best visualisation. The topic encourages SAIs around the world to communicate their audit results and present their findings in a clear and engaging manner. The Jury ch…
International Centre for Environment Audit & Sustainable Development (iCED), the Global Training Facility (GTF) of INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) recently completed the 8th International Training Programme (ITP).
iCED has been conducting the ITPs in face to face mode at i…
The 20th INTOSAI WGEA Assembly is almost here! This year we will meet in a virtual venue and the agenda is filled with fantastic speakers, technical features and insightful case studies from all over the world. As the time zones make it difficult for…
Circular economy is attracting increasing interest both in academic discussion and government policies. Circular economy can be defined as the decoupling of economic activity from the consumption of finite resources (Ellen McArthu…
Dear INTOSAI Members,
In the spirit of INTOSAI’s motto “Mutual experience benefits all”, the Chair of INTOSAI WGEA, Ms. Tytti Yli-Viikari is pleased to address you with two initiatives connected to the 20th Assembly Meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) 19–21 January …
SAI India’s International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) is holding the 8th International Training Programme on “Introduction to Environmental Auditing” in two slots from 23 November – 27 November 2020 and 7 December – 11 December.
Participants can select their parti…
The INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat would like to remind members of the National Audit Office of Estonia’s online MOOC on Auditing Water Issues taking place from 2 November – 6 December 2020. The course is free of charge, arranged fully online and self-paced. Facilitators will provide support in the course…
SAI India’s International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) is holding an international webinar “Climate Change and its implications for Sustainable Development” on 23rd and 24th September 2020. The webinar will include sessions by international speakers on climate chan…
There are several environmental audit MOOCs available for all those who are interested in the topic. Save the dates and take this useful opportunity to build your own capacity!
SAI Brazil is providing a MOOC on Sustainable Development Goals and Supreme Audit Institutions. The course is available in…
Since 1998, INTOSAI WGEA has published over 50 research papers, guidance documents and training materials. First publications addressed natural resource accounting and cooperation among SAIs in auditing the international environmental accords. The work evolved to include waste and water issues, biod…
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing has collected for several years environmental audits to the database on this web page. The database allows searching audits both according to topic and country and has proved out to be a useful resource for benchmarking among SAIs. Our plan is to e…
The Steering Committee meeting was supposed to take place in magical Marrakech 23 – 26 March 2020. The preparations were going full speed forward when the alerting news from all over the world started to spread. The coronavirus outbreak forced INTOSAI WGEA to make a full U-turn and change the plan f…
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the SC Meeting in Marrakech has been cancelled and will be arranged as a videoconference meeting series that will be held on the planned meeting dates 23-26 March. The Steering Committee members as well as registered participants have been notified of the cancellatio…
All those interested in environmental audit e-learning are encouraged to book their calendars for two upcoming courses scheduled for January and March 2020:
In 2020-2022 the INTOSAI WGEA will focus its work on three topics: Sustainable transport, Plastic Waste and Climate Finance. These three Work Packages will also contribute to the follow-up and review of the SDGs and providing support for auditing the environmental SDGs.
The INTOSAI WGEA Secretariat was transferred from SAI Indonesia to SAI Finland in November. From now on, you can reach the Secretariat under intosaiwgea@vtv.fi Warmest thanks for SAI Indonesia for their kind help with all practical matters!
We are pleased to inform you that the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Auditing Waste Management will run from September 9th to October 13th, 2019. This course has been developed within the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing by the National Audit Office of Estonia in collaboration with…
Please save the date on your calendar for the upcoming 19th INTOSAI WGEA Assembly Meeting, scheduled for August 6-9, 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Prior to the meeting, a one-day training on Greening the SAIs will be organized on August 5, 2019 by the European Court of Auditors and the National Audit O…
INTOSAI WGEA with iCED India is proud to announce the organization of 6th International Training Programme (ITP) on “Introduction to Environmental Auditing” and an International Workshop on “Audit of Waste Management” for audit personnel from INTOSAI member countries from November 26th to December 8…
It is with great pleasure to announce that the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Introduction to Environmental Auditing in the Public Sector, organized by the EUROSAI WGEA Secretariat, will run from 10 September to 7 October 2018. The course, organized already a third time, has been developed by the…
INTOSAI WGEA invites your SAI to contribute to the 9th Survey on Environmental Auditing.
This survey contains questions on auditing mandate, environmental audits and their impact, environmental auditing capacity, UN SDGs, co-operation between SAIs, and feedback on the products developed by INTOSAI W…
The WGEA Secretariat would like to congratulate ACAG/PASAI RWGEA for their success in conducting their 10th Meeting on 15-17 May 2018 in Brisbane, Australia.
The programme and discussion at the meeting focused on:
• increasing audit impact and visibility;
• environmental impact, including of our ow…
With the successful completion of the 18th Assembly Meeting of INTOSAI WGEA held in Bandung, Indonesia, the Audit Board of Indonesia would like to thank the INTOSAI WGEA community for your support, contribution and participation. We hope participants found the meeting fruitful, the stay enjoyable, a…
During the 15th Steering Committee meeting of WGEA, it was decided, that iCED would conduct an International Workshop on Audit of Water Issues for Audit Managers of SAIs. The WGEA has already issued guidelines on “Auditing Water Issues” in 2004 and 2013 and a research project on Marine Environment …
It is our pleasure to inform you that, in line with decision taken during the 15th Steering Committee meeting of WGEA, iCED is organising an International Workshop on Audit of Water Issues for Audit Managers of SAIs. On behalf of Chair WGEA and SAI India, we invite SAIs to send participants to this …
With regards to the Work Plan 2017-2019, the INTOSAI WGEA would like to conduct an annual audit report collection on environmental audits from INTOSAI members. This aims to update the data base on the audit reports and improve the exchange of information between SAIs all over the world. In line with…
SAI of Indonesia (BPK) in collaboration with INTOSAI WGEA are pleased to invite SAIs to the 4th INTOSAI WGEA International Training on Forestry Audit that will be held in 11 – 14 September 2017 in BPK’s Training Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Please find the attachments for:
INTOSAI WGEA would like to cordially invite all INTOSAI Members to attend 7th International Training Programme on'' Introduction to Environmental Auditing'' and ''International workshop on Sustainable Development: Concept and Audit"of the Global Training Facility (GTF), a joint collaboration between…
INTOSAI WGEA will organize the 15th Steering Committee meeting on September 11-15, 2017. Hosted by U.S. GAO, the meeting will be conducted in Washington, D.C. Further information on the meeting will forthcoming from the Secretariat.
In order to disseminate the INTOSAI WGEA product of 2014 – 2016, Secretariat of INTOSAI WGEA open booth exhibition during the XXII INCOSAI in Abu Dhabi. All WGEA products covering research papers, ISSAI reviews, updated guidance were displayed on the booth.
In addition to that, Secretariat also dis…
The Chair and Secretariat of INTOSAI WGEA attended the XXII INCOSAI held in Abu Dhabi, UEA in December 2016. During the Congress, the Chair of INTOSAI WGEA presented the output of WGEA workplan for the period of 2014 – 2016. In addition to that, the Congress also have endorsed the 3 ISSAIs series re…
On 24 – 27 October 2016, the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK) hosted the 17th INTOSAI WGEA Assembly Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia. Attended by 115 delegates from 48 SAIs, 4 UN Organizations, and academics, the meeting agreed on the output of the 2014 – 2016 WGEA work plan. Further, the…
We are pleased to announce that the 3rd International Training Program on Introduction to Environmental Auditing held in iCED India was a success. It was held from 16th November untill 30th November 2015. This 3rd GTF Course had 22 participants from 11 countries around the world viz. Bhutan, Federat…
The WGEA Secretariat would like to salute ACAG/PASAI RWGEA on their success delivering their 9th meeting on 10-12 May 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. It is encouraging to see PASAI members in the meeting keen to take part in further cooperative audits on environmental topics, including the environment…
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) aims to increase the expertise in environmental auditing and to enhance environmental governance with high-quality contribution and visibility by both members of the Working Group and non–member SAIs. Currently the INTOSAI WGEA consists of 86 member countries.
