On 29 November, the joint audit report: Adaptation to Climate Change – Are Governments Prepared? was officially launched at the 18th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Adaptation (COP 18) at the Qatar National Convention Centre - Doha, Qatar.  This launching was part of the European Union’s side events at the Convention. 

The report was compiled under the auspices of the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing.  The National Audit Office – Malta, together with the Austrian Court of Audit, the Bulgarian National Audit Office, the Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus, the European Court of Auditors (ECA),  the Netherlands Court of Audit, the Office of the Auditor General of Norway, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, as well as  the State Audit Office of Hungary (in an observer capacity) participated in this cooperative audit.

The main aim of the cooperative audit was to contribute to knowledge on how adaptation policies are implemented at a national level across Europe.  For this purpose five areas were assessed in the national audits, namely the (i) identification and quality of risk and vulnerability assessments, (ii) identification and quality of strategy, (iii) extent and function of coordination, (iv) implementation; and (v) results and impacts of actions taken.

The participating Supreme Audit Institutions designed and carried out the national audits which addressed key climate change adaptation issues, which are considered important in the respective countries.  This report brings together these findings and identifies cross cutting themes relevant across Europe.  The eight national audits, on which the coordinated audit is based, have already been published.

Malta’s contribution in the cooperative audit was based on the National Audit Office Performance Audit publication Safeguarding Malta’s Groundwater.  This report was published and presented to the Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives in February 2012.

The joint report is available at http://www.eurosaiwgea.org/