Clear Calls to Action in 9 Pacific Island Audits on Climate Change Adaptation Actions
Over 2024–25, 9 of the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Pacific who are members of the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) took part in a global cooperative audit initiative known as the Climate Change Adaptation Actions (CCAA) audit. The CCAA audit was coordinated by 2 organisations within the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI): the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA). PASAI published a regional report on these audits of responses to climate-related matters by government agencies in the 9 Pacific Island states.
Collectively, the 9 Pacific Island SAIs examined the effectiveness of their governments’ planning and actions to adapt to climate change. More specifically:
- SAIs of the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu examined the effectiveness of actions to adapt to sea level rise and coastal erosion.
- SAIs of the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga examined the effectiveness of climate change adaptation planning and actions.
- The SAI of Vanuatu examined the effectiveness of water resource management.
These audits are highly pertinent given the real impacts of climate change in the Pacific. As the audits have been done concurrently, together they provide a rich understanding of the challenges of adaptation action planning and implementation of measures across the Pacific and what is commonly needed for more effective implementation of CCAA. These audits also provide transparency for citizens and hold the relevant government agencies to account for the effectiveness of their actions to adapt to climate change in the Pacific.
“The effects of climate change are real and literally at our doorsteps. We are experiencing more intense and frequent cyclones, droughts and flooding, erosion and saline intrusion, causing loss of ancestral homes, displacement of people and health risks, threatening food and water security, and endangering children’s futures.”
– PASAI SAI audit teams
The Pacific regional report on climate change adaptation actions identified that governments need to act now to:
- secure available financing and expertise
- better plan and target measures where they are needed
- more effectively implement measures through more coordinated and inclusive action
- ensure accountability through monitoring and reporting of intended outcomes.
To learn more about the audits, their key findings, and the implications of climate change for Pacific Islands, please visit PASAI’s Cooperative Performance Audit Report webpage. From there, you can view the PASAI report, the participating SAIs’ performance audit reports, and short videos from participating SAIs explaining their audits, their participation in the global initiative and the impact of their work.
PASAI Secretary-General, Grant Taylor, launched the report in a webinar on 2 October 2025: Collective Pacific Voices on Climate Change Action – Lessons from cooperative performance audits. The panel included auditors general from Fiji and the Marshall Islands, and presenters from PASAI and the Office of the Auditor-General New Zealand. The webinar can be found below:
