Global Climate Adaptation Audits for a Resilient Future: Lessons and recommendations from Supreme Audit Institutions

The Auditor General, Mr Charles Deguara, presented the international publication highlighted in caption to the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives Dr Anġlu Farrugia, underscoring the participation of this Office in the Global Cooperative Audit of Climate Change Adaptation Actions (CCAA). This global effort, a joint initiative led by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Development Initiative (IDI) and the Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA), brought together 54 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) from around the world, including the National Audit Office of Malta, to assess national responses to the growing challenges posed by climate change.
As part of this global initiative, in June 2025, this Office published the performance audit, Climate Change Adaptation – Evaluating Malta’s efforts relating to flooding and sea level rise. Key findings from this report featured as a case study in the CCAA global publication. Notably, the global publication is acknowledging the Climate Action Act of 2024 as a pivotal development in Malta’s climate governance, establishing the Climate Action Authority to ensure stronger coordinated action.

Recognising the impacts of climate change on vulnerable regions, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDSs), the CCAA initiative focused on key areas such as disaster risk reduction, water resource management, sea level rise and coastal resilience, as well as national adaptation planning. The main findings of this global cooperative audit were launched during a dedicated event at the 25th Congress of the INTOSAI, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, between 27 and 31 October. The publication highlights the critical role SAIs play in enhancing accountability and effectiveness vis-à-vis climate adaptation efforts.
During the Report launching event of this global cooperative audit, Mr Charles Deguara formed part of a distinguished panel that included also SIDSs’ representatives facing similar climate-related challenges. The Auditor General remarked that NAO Malta considered the CCAA global initiative as an invaluable opportunity to build internal capacity through targeted training and expert guidance whilst engaging meaningfully with peer institutions on climate matters as well as contributing directly towards national efforts related to climate change adaptation.

The CCAA Audit Global Publication can be accessed by visiting the dedicated IDI-WGEA webpage https://www.idi.no/work-streams/relevant-sais/ccaa or the NAO Malta website nao.gov.mt.

To view the report (.pdf) please follow this link.