MOOC: Auditing environmental impacts of infrastructure

Module 3: Auditing Sustainability of Infrastructure Projects

The third module will assist in learning to plan a performance audit addressing the sustainability impacts of infrastructure, including the formulation of audit questions and criteria.

To compile an audit which evaluates the sustainability of particular infrastructure, the audit questions and criteria should ideally cover all three components of sustainability: environmental, economic and social factors.

The sustainability of infrastructure will be explained by drawing from examples of different infrastructure audits. In order to better follow the examples, make sure you remember the aim of audit questions, sub-questions, criteria, methods, etc. and the difference between them.

Table 1. Relations between audit questions, sub-questions and criteria

Audit question: Is effective regulation used for obtaining the required sustainability outcome?
Sub question

Criteria

Method
1. Is there a regulation in place?

1. The government has defined the goals and desired outcomes.
2. The government has adopted a law for this particular area.
3. The authority has rules in place to implement and enforce the law.
4. Etc.

Check whether the goals have been defined and the regulation for the particular task is in place. Check if the regulation is enforced in practice, e.g. by conducting a case study.
2. Are the authorities performing according to the regulation?

1. The involved authorities have the necessary tasks in place that do not overlap. The involved authorities cooperate, if necessary. 
2. The authority fulfils its tasks, for example, gives out permits, applies sanctions, if necessary.
3. The involved authorities have the necessary resources to perform their tasks.
4. Etc.

What are the duties and obligations of the officials according to the regulation and internal rules of the authority? Are these duties performed and documented? List the duties and check whether they are performed. Check how the authorities cooperate, how many officials are involved with the tasks and how much money is allocated to the authorities to perform the tasks.

3. Does the existing regulation deliver the required outcomes?

1. The required outcome has been defined.
2. The required outcome has been achieved. If not, why?
3. Etc.

Define the required outcomes. Look for best practices – what are the elements of an ideal regulation in this area? List the most important elements of a good regulation and check whether they are in place. 


To find out more about creating an audit matrix, see Module 3 of the course ‘Introduction to Environmental Auditing in the Public Sector‘.

When selecting audit criteria, it is also useful to look at international agreements, such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and regional international regulations, such as European Union law. 

 

Reading suggestion!

Take a look at the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) SDG’s Audit Model, which is a guide for auditing the implementation of SDGs. In this guide, IDI also explains how to create audit matrices, including how to form audit questions and from where to derive criteria.

Also see Sustainability Reporting: Concepts, Frameworks and the role of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI WGEA, 2013).  Some SAIs have also created their own guides for taking sustainability considerations into account in audits. For example, take a look at this guide by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. 

Audit suggestion!

Take a look at examples of audits on the preparedness of meeting SDGs on the IDI webpage.
Take a look at the cooperative audits on the implementation of various SDGs on the IDI webpage.

THINKING EXERCICE

Think! Do you know the answers to these questions?

What are the main aspects of sustainability?

Sustainability covers aspects of:

  • environmental impact and environmental management;
  • social benefits and concerns; and
  • economic benefits and concerns.

Which of these aspects is the most important one? 

It is important to consider all of the aspects, but some may be more relevant, depending on the context. This often depends on aspects such as the type of infrastructure and the conditions in a country (its economy, social situation and environmental problems).

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