The President of the Court, Minister Bruno Dantas, opened the meeting and reinforced the importance of international cooperation to address the impacts of climate change. "While global climate action is a shared responsibility of various actors, national governments play a prominent role in the creation and implementation of climate strategies, through the allocation of resources and the formulation and implementation of public policies", said the Minister. 

ClimateScanner is an online platform under development, created for audit institutions to assess and monitor governments' actions to address climate change. The project is a global initiative that will collect, consolidate and publicize data on climate change actions. The work is divided into three axes: governance, financing, and climate-related public policies.  

The technical meeting was held in Foz do Iguaçu (PR). "The opening of the ClimateScanner high-level meeting is a hands-on demonstration that the supreme audit institutions are committed to the assessment and monitoring of public policies aimed at the climate crisis," said Dantas.  

The vice-president of the TCU, Minister Vital do Rêgo, emphasized the relevance of producing quality information online for all countries and actors interested in the debate and actions on climate change. "To face the challenge of climate change, we need investment and government organization, among other factors. Each of us knows the peculiarities of our countries, so it is important to be together, exchanging ideas on a global issue that is urgent for us and future generations," he said.  

The National Secretary for Urban Environment and Environmental Quality, Adalberto Maluf, attended the opening on Monday (July 17) and drew attention to the importance of integrating government actions and the development of the ClimateScanner tool. "The crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and urban pollution must be tackled in a coordinated manner. By doing this monitoring, ClimateScanner compares important criteria of financing, governance and actions. This type of tool can greatly help the Executive Branch, the National Congress, and the various levels of government to understand if their actions are on the right track," said Maluf. 

In all, eighteen countries are involved in the development of ClimateScanner. The project was launched in 2022 during the XXIV International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions (INCOSAI). By 2024, participants will evaluate the information obtained, consolidate the data produced and communicate relevant information in easy-to-understand language. From these steps, countries will produce standardized assessments, which will portray the performance of governments on climate issues at a national level, helping the decision-making process through the development of strategic projects. The results will then be consolidated into a global overview, identifying the main strengths and challenges of countries around the world in fighting climate change. 

The Head of the Department of Climate Justice, Suliete Baré, represented the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. The emphasis was on the conservation of traditional communities. "There is no way to talk about the environment and tackling climate change without mentioning Indigenous peoples. These three agendas must be one. In addition, we must consider the fact that other countries see the importance of traditional peoples in their countries for the conservation, at least, of forests, fauna, flora, rivers and diverse cultures", reinforced Baré. 

Environmental scientist Carlos Nobre gave a presentation on the latest evidence of the climate emergency and highlighted the initiative's potential to contribute to this issue. "Undoubtedly, a platform of this nature is essential, which will monitor globally, on a high scale, what climate change is doing, the impacts of changes in human systems and ecosystems," he said. Nobre is the author of several reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including the 2007 report, recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Next steps

The meeting in Foz do Iguaçu marks the presentation of the first version of the ClimateScanner development methodology. Throughout 2023, the TCU will promote the pilot testing of ClimateScanner 1.0. The training for the executive group of supreme audit institutions will be done in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). 

Between July and September this year, a global survey will be conducted to assess the level of preparedness of executive groups to use the tool. The objectives are to identify institutions' experience in climate change audits, challenges, and opportunities for capacity building. The results of the survey and the pilot test will be discussed at a technical meeting scheduled for the end of September. On that occasion, participants will discuss adjustments to the methodology. 

After the development, capacity building and planning phases, there will be the finalization of the platform and the report to be presented at COP 28. The Conference of the Parties is the annual meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In 2023, the conference will be held in the United Arab Emirates. The implementation of ClimateScanner starts in 2024. 

First day participations

Representing the international supreme audit institutions, the heads of the executive groups of Argentina, Canada, United Arab Emirates, United States, India, Maldives, Morocco, Paraguay and Kenya attended. 

The ClimateScanner project is supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank.