The Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic hosted the 5th Annual Meeting which was organized on the initiative and with a great support of the NIK (Poland) as the Group’s Co-ordinator.
Representatives of 26 European SAIs as well as invited guests from the European Commission, the Slovak Parliament, the European Environmental Agency (EEA), the Secretariat of UN FCCC, the Chair of the INTOSAI WGEA (SAI of Canada), the Coordinator of the ASOSAI WGEA (SAI of China) and of the OLACEF WGEA (SAI of Brasil) took part in the meeting.
Environmental Seminar
The essential part of the meeting was environmental seminar “Climate change – auditing of the implementation of the Kyoto commitments”. The Seminar was divided into two sessions:
1st Session: “Climate change and Kyoto Protocol – background information”
2nd Session: “Climate change and Kyoto Protocol – auditing approaches”
Apart from the plenary presentations, two workshops were held during the 2nd Session.
Workshops aimed at discussing possibilities of auditing the implementation of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol commitments. The aim of the 1st Workshop was to answer the question “What to audit?” while the 2nd Workshop focused on the question “How to audit?” and was limited only to Kyoto commitments issues.
SAIs interested in regional audit of implementation of the Kyoto Protocol commitments discussed potential scope of its audit and its relation to the global audit of climate change planned within the INTOSAI WGEA under the coordination of Canada. Decisions concerning further steps within the regional audit were taken.
| Presentations | |
|---|---|
| UNFCCC Secretariat | United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chenge (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol – general information |
| European Commission, DG Environment | EU action against climate change |
| European Environment Agency | Greenhouse emission – trends and projections in Europe 2006 |
| SAI of AustriaSAI of NorwaySAI of Poland | Countries’ approaches to the implementation of UN FCCC and Kyoto Protocol commitments |
| SAI of United Kingdom | Climate change Policy: options for scrutiny – basing on the review 2006 |
| SAI of CanadaSAI of LithuaniaSAI of the NetherlandsSAI of Slovak Republic | Auditing the implementation of UN FCCC and Kyoto Protocol commitments – some experiences |
Business Meeting
The second part of the meeting was the business meeting devoted to activities of the EUROSAI WGEA 2006-2007 and plans for the near future. The report on activities undertaken by the Group since the previous members’ meeting (Luxembourg November 2006) was presented. Information about selected environmental audits conducted recently in Europe was also delivered (SAI’s of Ukraine and France) . The assembly approved the EUROSAI WGEA 2008 Workplan.
Candidature of Norwegian SAI for the position of WG’s Co-ordinator after the EUROSAI Congress in Krakow 2008 was also presented. Recognized a vital role of Norway in activities undertaken by the Group’s so far, its experiences in environmental auditing and openness for cooperation with both the European and non-European SAIs, members of the Group strongly supported Norway as the candidate for the new Coordinator to be finally accepted by the EUROSAI Congress.
One of the first task of the new Co-ordinator will be developing draft EUROSAI WG‘s strategy 2008-2010 along with a new organizational structure of the Group. Both documents are to be discussed and approved at the next WG’s members meeting (autumn 2008).