The State Audit of Viet Nam acts to adapt to climate change

Actions by the Vietnamese Government on climate change adaptation

Recognizing the risks and challenges of climate change, the Vietnamese Government has proactively developed and issued national policies, strategies, programs and action plans to effectively respond to the impacts of climate change and ensure sustainable development; integrating climate change adaptation into economic and social development plans at both governmental and local levels over 5 and 10-year periods, as well as into sectoral strategies and plans. The revised 2020 Environmental Protection Law includes a chapter on climate change adaptation. Furthermore, the Vietnamese Government has developed action plans to fulfill international commitments on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, contributing to climate change adaptation and sustainable development goals, such as the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement (COP21), the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26), the Ozone Layer Protection Convention, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, etc.

To fulfill commitments under Article 7 of the Paris Agreement (where Parties are responsible for developing and implementing a national climate change adaptation plan), on July 20, 2020, the Prime Minister of Viet Nam issued the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan for 2021-2030, with a vision towards 2050. The main goal is to minimize vulnerability and risks posed by climate change impacts through enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of communities, economic sectors, and ecosystems; promoting the integration of climate change adaptation into strategic and planning systems. The plan is divided into three implementation phases: 2021-2025, 2026-2030, and a vision for 2050.

In particular, the development direction of the Vietnamese Government for 2021-2030 states: "Proactively and effectively adapt to climate change, prevent and mitigate natural disasters and diseases, manage, exploit, use resources rationally, economically, effectively, and sustainably; prioritize environmental protection and public health; resolutely eliminate projects that cause environmental pollution, ensure the quality of living environments, protect biodiversity and ecosystems; build a green, circular economy that is environmentally friendly" with the criterion of "Not trading off the environment for economic growth."

In the 2023-2024 period, to contribute to global climate change response actions, the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV) has actively being participating in the cooperative audit on climate change adaptation initiated by the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and in collaboration with the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (INTOSAI WGEA), which focuses on “Implementing climate change adaptation actions (related to Sustainable Development Goal 13).”

Prioritising environmental auditing and climate change response

As an active and responsible member of INTOSAI and the ASOSAI Governing Board for 2021-2024, while adhering to the commitments made in the Hanoi Declaration focusing on “Environmental auditing for sustainable development,” SAV cannot stay irrelevant with the common tasks of organizations. Additionally, the Strategy for the Development of SAV by 2030 identifies environmental auditing as a primary focus area of development, enhancing both the quality and quantity of audits of this kind.

In recent years, SAV has prioritized and implemented many thematic, performance, and environmental audits that are of social concern or has integrated environmental protection and climate change response into its annual audits. Some notable audits include: audit of the National Target Program on Climate Change Adaptation and Green Growth for the period 2016-2020; audit of the Program on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for 2012-2015; auditing the project of 5 million- hectare Reforestation; audit of water resource management in the Mekong River Basin in line with sustainable development goals (in collaboration with the SAIs of Thailand and Myanmar); audit of the National Target Program on Clean Water and Rural Sanitation; audit of the management of scrap importing from 2016-2018; audit of the implementation of measures to reduce plastic bag usage; and audit of the management and environmental protection of economic zones, industrial zones, clusters, craft villages, thermal power plants, hospitals, etc.

These audit topics address pressing environmental issues that pose significant risks to the environment that are of the Government’s, National Assembly’s, and public’s concerns. SAV has reviewed, gathered information, and assessed these issues carefully before incorporating them into the implementation plan to maximize the impact and added value that their audits can generate. These were primarily conducted in performance audit type which is the most appropriate to evaluate the economy, effectiveness, and efficiency of preparations and aims to answer three main audit questions: To what extent has the Government considered and tailored the SDGs into the national context; has the Government identified and ensured all necessary resources for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; and has the Government established a mechanism to monitor, supervise, evaluate, and report on the progress of the 2030 Agenda implementation?

Some key audit findings by SAV

Through auditing, SAV has pointed out shortcomings in the environmental management and protection, climate change response, such as overlapping and unclear responsibilities among state management agencies; insufficient and uncoordinated mechanisms and policies for environmental management and climate change response; failure to comply with regulations in approving environmental documents and permits; and the use of outdated equipment and technology in waste treatment, posing risks of environmental pollution.

SAV also identified issues in the environmental infrastructure planning which may be named as the planning failed to comply with the applicable regulations; the land parcels which are originally designated for environmental protection infrastructure were changed to other uses; the quality of emissions and wastewater failed to meet technical standards; and state management agencies did not assess the impacts and generate reasonable solutions to balance between economic benefits and environmental impacts, especially in using imported scrap as production materials.

Additionally, SAV assessed that the effectiveness and efficiency of investments in environmental programs and climate change response projects were limited; failure to allocate sufficient financial resources and identify the possibility to adjust necessary budget led to some projects being underfunded and unfinished, affecting their effectiveness; reporting rules were not strictly followed; and monitoring and controls by management agencies lacked coherence and did not ensure connectivity from central to local levels, etc.

These shortcomings and limitations reduced the effectiveness and efficiency of environmental management efforts and must be promptly identified and addressed. Based on audit results, SAV has recommended corrections and rectifications for violations in state management regarding environmental and climate change matters, as well as amendments to inconsistent and unsuitable policies and documents according to the law and actual practices; contributing to enhancement of the effectiveness and efficiency of functional agencies and the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in implementing government strategies, programs, plans, and projects.

For example: the national strategy on climate change, the national environmental protection strategy by 2030, a vision to 2050, the national program on greenhouse gas emissions reduction through limiting forest loss and degradation; conserving and enhancing carbon stocks and sustainably managing forest resources until 2030, the national action plan implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the plan for implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change, the proposal to enhance plastic waste management in Viet Nam, the project to plant one billion green trees for 2021-2025, etc.

Moreover, in the 2023-2024 period, to contribute to global climate change responses, SAV has actively participated in the cooperative audit on climate change adaptation led by IDI and INTOSAI WGEA, focusing on “Implementing climate change adaptation actions for (related to Sustainable Development Goal 13)”. SAV completed and sent its audit outline to IDI experts for feedback in May 2024.

Challenges and difficulties in conducting national climate action audits

Compared to other SAIs worldwide, SAV is relatively young, while climate change is an urgent global issue affecting the sustainable development of all countries and posing governance risks for all governments. Viet Nam Government is not an exception. SAV is therefore encountering several challenges in organizing and implementing national climate action audits.

These include difficulties in selecting audit topics to evaluate national climate actions for strategic and annual audit plans, as most of the Vietnamese Government's national climate actions are still in the initial stages of designing programs, plans, and proposals, etc. and continuously adjusting to suit to national contexts and international commitments; the legal documents regulating, guiding, and directing national climate actions have only recently been issued, taking further time for implementation; it requires time to adjust national resources amid economic difficulties and as a "middle-income" country and to "call" for international support; and the national climate database is incomplete and lacks connectivity, etc.

Additionally, SAV lacks experience, methodology, and procedural guidelines for conducting audits as well as personnel with sufficient capacity on performance auditing of national climate actions while there are no guidelines for conducting climate change audits. Support from the international community is therefore crucial to build guidelines and strengthen climate change audit capacity for SAV.

Future directions for climate change auditing by SAV

To enhance the quality and effectiveness of audits evaluating the Vietnamese Government's climate actions, while impressively fulfilling international commitments and making practical contributions to global climate change responses, SAV has proposed several directional solutions for implementing climate change response audits in the near future:

First, SAV has developed a Development Strategy for SAV until 2030 (2021-2030), which includes goals toward enhancing environmental auditing capacity, i.e. Enhancing performance audits, thematic audits, information technology audits, and environmental audits: the number of audit of these types is expected to account for about 30% to 40% of the total annual audits; the audit subject matter shall focus on identifying deficiencies in mechanisms, policies, and laws; and improving audit quality to meet the management and operational needs of the Government and the oversight requirements of the National Assembly.

Second, SAV prepares its annual audit plan and periodically reviews the medium-term audit plan to effectively implement the Development Strategy of the SAV by 2030; improve the quality and efficiency of audit activities; strengthen discipline in public service delivery; and promote the SAV’s role as an effective tool of the Party and the State in supervising public financial and asset management, and in the fight against corruption, waste, and negativity. In particular, the SAV continues to prioritize and focus on selecting key issues related to the environment, climate change, and sustainable development that are of interest to the public and the Government; identifying environmental, climate change, and sustainable development goals auditing as critical and breakthrough contents for the coming period.

Third, issues related to climate change are complex, cross-sectoral, and affect many vulnerable groups, requiring auditors not only to have auditing skills but also to be equipped with knowledge across various socio-economic and environmental fields. Therefore, SAV will focus on building and strengthening the auditors’ capacity to meet the requirements of each audit. At the same time, it will pay attention to improving audit quality control through coordination and opinion exchanges among advisory units from the planning stage, audit implementation to audit report issuance, ensuring that audits comply with SAV standards, processes, and guidelines, and flexibly apply international standards, guidelines, and practices into the audit process.

Fourth, SAV further enhance the application of information technology in audit activities in general and in auditing responses to climate change in particular, such as: accessing, extracting, and analyzing data from software systems, and databases on management and supervision of regulatory agencies from central to local levels.

Fifth, in terms of international cooperation, the SAV always plays an active and proactive role as a member of INTOSAI in all of the organization’s activities, especially in promoting audit activities related to climate change response. SAV has been commiting itself to strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with organizations and member SAIs of INTOSAI in conducting environmental audits, climate change audits, and the Sustainable Development Goals; actively and effectively participated in cooperative audits; seconded auditors to participate in environmental audits, climate change audits, and SDGs conducted by ASOSAI and INTOSAI members with expertise to learn and gain knowledge and experience in environmental and climate change auditing from SAIs and international partners.

Sixth, SAV continues to apply the ISSAIs and flexibly and creatively adopt appropriate international audit approaches, methods, guidelines, and practices from the audit planning, audit implementation to audit report preparation to enhance the values and benefits of audit results and recommendations.