TCU highlights advances and challenges in climate governance at COP30 panels

At the panel Brazilian states and the implementation of climate policies , held on November 13 at COP30, representatives from the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), municipal governments, environmental agencies, and experts explored how to strengthen states capacity to transition to a low-carbon economy. The session was organized by the Centro Brasil no Clima (CBC) and the Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS).

Minister Augusto Nardes underscored the TCU's role in advancing climate governance. He presented data from ClimateScanner, the global tool led by TCU to assess government climate action worldwide, and detailed findings from Painel ClimaBrasil, which evaluated climate governance in Brazilian states and state capitals.

The assessments show progress in planning but reveal persistent gaps, including vague or missing targets and the lack of systematic monitoring of climate risks and spending.

The data show we still have a long way to go to strengthen climate governance in Brazil. States and municipalities need better planning, clear targets, and transparent monitoring of risks and expenditures. Tools like ClimateScanner and ClimaBrasil help support this shift, strengthening accountability and guiding more effective public policies to address the climate crisis, Nardes said.

On November 14, Carlos Lustosa, TCU's ClimateScanner coordinator, and Vivi Niemenmaa, secretary-general of INTOSAI's Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA), spoke at the UN/UNDP Pavilion in the Blue Zone during the panel Effectiveness for Adaptation: Why Climate Adaptation Plans Fail and How Auditors Can Help Fix Them. The session presented findings from more than 50 international audits on climate adaptation, examining implementation challenges, monitoring weaknesses, and policy effectiveness.

Lustosa highlighted insights from ClimateScanner and ClimaBrasil: Many adaptation plans don't fail due to lack of intent, but because they lack implementation, reliable data, and clear monitoring mechanisms. Evaluation tools help bring evidence to the table, identify risks, and strengthen transparency so governments can advance real, concrete actions to protect vulnerable populations.

Fossil-Fuel Subsidies Under Scrutiny

Later that day, auditor Guilherme Souto represented the TCU at the panel Inefficient Fossil-Fuel Subsidies: Obstacles, Challenges, and Domestic and Global Perspectives, held at the Brasil Pavilion in the Blue Zone. The debate brought together specialists from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Transforma Global, Columbia Climate School, Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc), and WWF-Brasil to examine how inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies hinder the energy transition and weaken social justice.

Souto emphasized the TCU's mandate to audit public policies, identify risks, and provide technical inputs for Congress and society. He noted that the TCU has used its independence to expand transparency around fossil-fuel subsidies and highlight related fiscal, social, and environmental risks, often in partnership with organizations such as Inesc.

Our role is not to define public policies but to assess them with technical rigor. We have consolidated data to clarify the implications of fossil-fuel subsidies and support more informed decisions aligned with climate commitments, he said.

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