WORK PACKAGE 3: WGEA Focus Area: Climate Finance

WORK PACKAGE 3: WGEA Focus Area: Climate Finance 

Observed and projected consequences of the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere include altered weather patterns, increased frequency and intensity of extreme storms and droughts, changed crop yields, increased ocean acidification, and increased flooding in coastal areas. The most pronounced negative effects are likely to occur in less economically developed countries. In response, the international community has taken steps to address climate change. Most recently, as part of the Paris Agreement in 2018, developed countries agreed to the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion of “new and additional” funding—finance that is over and above what would have been provided otherwise—through various sources and financial flows in the context of meaningful climate change adaptation and mitigation actions.  

Per the INTOSAI strategic plan, the WGEA Work Plan 2020-2022 aims to explore how Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) can contribute to the follow-up and review of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Working Package 3 of this Work Plan focuses on SDG Target 13a and its indicator—the mobilized amount of climate finance per year between 2020 and 2025 accountable towards the $100 billion commitment. Climate finance is a broad and ill-defined term; therefore, the project team will focus the scope of this work on climate finance that directly contributes to this SDG. In that context, we will focus our review on how SAIs can help track and improve the accountability of the flows of international climate finance from one country to another through bilateral or multilateral channels. Auditing the flows of international climate finance can help countries understand the extent to which they are meeting their commitments and whether committed funds were used appropriately. The goals of Working Package 3 are to (1) meet the INTOSAI mandate that mutual experience benefits all by sharing experiences of SAIs and developing approaches in auditing climate finance; and (2) provide valuable information and tools to SDG stakeholders, the foremost being the UN. 

We plan to fulfil the goals of this working package by reporting on the following: 

1. The various climate finance mechanisms included in the scope; 
   
   
2. Organizations that serve an accountability or audit function with regards to climate finance counted towards the $100 billion target and summarize their findings; 
   
   
3. The extent to which UN parties and other stakeholders coordinate on climate finance; 
   
   
4. Relevant SAI audits and other evaluations that contribute to the follow-up and review of SDG 13a;
   
   
5. Common audit themes, challenges, and approaches;
   
   
6. Findings or recommendations SAIs have made that would suggest actions that could be taken by stakeholders to make further progress toward achieving SDG 13a 
   
   
7. The SDG 13a indicator, its limitations, and other potential indicators; and 
   
   
8. Working with UN stakeholders, identify potential tools or practices that could help SAIs track progress towards SDG 13a. 

Working Package 3 Project Members and Contacts 

Working Package 3 is being led by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the SAI of the United States. The contacts for the GAO team include: 

• Mark Gaffigan, Managing Director, gaffiganm(at)gao.gov  
• Alfredo Gomez, Director, gomezj(at)gao.gov  
• Joe Thompson, Assistant Director, thompsonj(at)gao.gov  
• Marissa Dondoe, dondoem(at)gao.gov  
• Michelle Wong, wongm(at)gao.gov  
• Alana Miller, millera1(at)gao.gov 
• Andrew Titmus, titmusa(at)gao.gov  

Project Group SAIs include: 

Bangladesh; Brazil; Canada; China; European Court of Auditors; Fiji; Finland; The Maldives; Nepal; Netherlands; New Zealand; Nigeria; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Thailand