Greenlines Newsletter

Greenlines is a resource that updates the members of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) on the status of their activities and other developments in environmental auditing. It also provides a summary of the current activities and initiatives of the Working Group to the members of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the general public.

2^nd Meeting of the WGEA Steering Committee

We are pleased to announce that the 2^nd meeting of the WGEA Steering Committee, which was hosted by the National Controller's Office of Costa Rica in Heredia, Costa Rica on 13-15 January 2003, was a great success. The purpose of the meeting was to continue to advance the WGEA work plan and to discuss members' issues or concerns. Significant progress was made in several key elements of the work plan, including: the WGEA water and waste audit papers, environmental audit training, collaborative auditing of commitments under the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, and the new WGEA Web site.

Members of the WGEA Steering Committee meet in Costa Rica

Thanks to Costa Rica

On behalf of the WGEA Steering Committee, we would like to extend our sincerest thanks to our hosts in Costa Rica for their kindness and generosity during our visit. Your hospitality made the experience productive and thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you.

Environmental Audit Papers

The WGEA is finalizing two papers to be adopted as formal INTOSAI guidance documents at the upcoming 18^thInternational Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions (INCOSAI) in Budapest, Hungary in 2004. These papers are:

• Sustainable Development: The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions. This paper, which was presented as a Working Group paper in Seoul, Korea, provides an overview of the concept of sustainable development and includes practical guidance to SAIs on how to factor it into audit work. This paper is being spearheaded by the United Kingdom.
• Environmental Auditing and Regularity Auditing. This paper, which is being finalized as a Working Group paper, provides guidance to SAIs on how to conduct environmental audits by applying regularity (financial and compliance) auditing practices. It demonstrates that SAIs do not need to have a performance audit mandate to conduct audit work that has an environmental focus. This paper is being spearheaded by New Zealand.

The WGEA is also preparing two other papers on the environmental auditing work that the SAI is doing. However, these papers will not be presented for formal adoption. These are:

• Experience in Audits on the Water Theme. Several years ago, the WGEA adopted "water management" as a central theme to provide a suggested focus for environmental audits undertaken by SAIs. The WGEA is preparing a paper that summarizes the collective experience of SAIs, drawing out lessons learned and practical tips. This is being led by the Netherlands
• Auditing Waste Management. The WGEA has adopted the new central theme of "waste management" to provide a suggested focus for future audits by SAIs. The WGEA is preparing an overview paper on waste in order to provide SAIs with the necessary background to conduct such audits. This is being led by Norway.

Environmental Auditing Training Course

In order to help INTOSAI members build environmental auditing expertise, the WGEA and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) have entered into a new partnership to develop and deliver a two-week training course on environmental auditing for SAIs. This partnership will combine the training expertise and infrastructure of IDI with the subject matter expertise of the Working Group. The pilot course is scheduled to be delivered in two INTOSAI regions in the fall of 2003.

For more information on the IDI Environmental Auditing Training course, visit the Learning Centre on the WGEA Web site.

Collaborative Auditing and World Summit on Sustainable Development

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in August 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Summit brought together many countries with the goal of advancing the global agenda on, and implementation of, sustainable development. The chair of the WGEA attended the Summit, along with representatives of the SAIs from China, Norway, South Africa, and members of African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI). The WGEA participated in two key events during the Summit, which were as follows:

• Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Johanne Gélinas, hosted an event entitled, "Making Sure Things Get Done—Governance, Accountability and Strategies for Sustainable Development".
• The Auditor General of South Africa hosted an event entitled, "How Will We Ensure That Government's Deliver What They Promise?" In addition to a keynote presentation by the Auditor General, the event also featured presentations by SAIs from Canada, Norway and China.

At the Costa Rica meeting, the Steering Committee discussed the outcomes of the WSSD and the implications for SAIs. The Steering Committee expressed strong, wide-spread support for further action by WGEA members in this area. It agreed on several ways that WGEA members could respond to the challenges of sustainable development, which are as follows:

• refining four issues in the audit template: waste, water, biodiversity, and national strategies for sustainable development;
• passively encouraging individual and collaborative audits, especially in the area of waste;
• having SAIs gather information about domestic actions that are underway to implement sustainable development;
• having SAIs prepare country papers on domestic actions for presentation at the 9^th WGEA meeting in Brazil in June 2004; and
• developing a WGEA global "state of affairs" report on sustainable development for 2007.

A proposal will be submitted at the 8^th WGEA assembly in Poland in April 2003 on how the plan of implementation that resulted from the Summit might be used by SAIs as the basis for future, co-ordinated audit work.

The New WGEA Web Site

The style and architecture of the new WGEA Web site has been significantly changed to enhance the site's content and make it more user-friendly. The site contains several new features, including a searchable list of Working Group publications available in the official INTOSAI languages—Arabic, English, French, German, and Spanish—and a Learning Centre aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of environmental auditing tools and techniques.

Canada presented a draft of the structure, layout and specific content of the new WGEA Web site to the Steering Committee at their 2^nd meeting in Costa Rica. While the Steering Committee approved the content of the mission, mandate, and language policy, it will also be reviewed by the WGEA assembly.

8^th Meeting of the WGEA Assembly

The 8^th meeting of the WGEA Assembly, which had been scheduled to be held in Beijing, China from 10-15 April 2003, has been postponed because of concerns about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Instead, the Supreme Chamber of Control of Poland will be hosting the event from 23-28 June 2003 in Warsaw, Poland. It will include a welcome reception on the evening of 23 June, seminars on 24-25 June, a business segment on 26-27 June, and an environmental/cultural excursion on 28 June.

The members of the WGEA wish to extend their sincere thanks to the National Audit Office of China and the Supreme Chamber of Control of Poland for their work and collaboration during this difficult time.

About the Greenlines Newsletter

Greenlines is the electronic news bulletin of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing. It is distributed to Working Group members and to anyone interested in environmental auditing.