Auditing International Environmental Agreements: The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions

Environmental problems are often transboundary in nature. International cooperation to solve them has resulted in a growing number of environmental agreements. Supreme Audit Institutions, which are the highest national audit institutions in a country and are responsible for auditing the regularity of governmental expenditure and receipts, can contribute to the success of international cooperation by auditing government compliance with international environmental obligations and commitments. This is a new challenge for supreme audit institutions. To encourage and support this work a Workgroup on Environmental Auditing of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions has developed guidelines, which are presented in this article. The possible practical role of audit institutions is illustrated by the audit on the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Ships, in which eight European audit institutions cooperated. This article is published in a personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Netherlands Court of Audit.