Environmental watchdog: ‘Show me what the money’s achieving’

New Zealand’s environmental watchdog wants the government to improve how it measures the performance of its spending.

Congressional Environment Commissioner Simon Upton said the government should seek to better track where the billions of dollars it invests in the environment each year go and what it does. I would like to collect information.

Former Kuomintang cabinet ministers, in a new report approved by the Inspector General, clearly identified the environmental outcomes the government wanted to achieve and asked the government to monitor progress in achieving these goals. Recommended.

Upton acknowledged that individual departments and agencies were already doing this, but said it was difficult to monitor what they were achieving as a whole.

He said that if he finds it difficult to put together this kind of information, it would be much more difficult for the public and parliamentarians to effectively hold the government accountable.

“The links between the environmental information we collect, the research we do, and the funding we spend on environmental issues are often tenuous, lack transparency, and dominated by short-termism. It became clear.

“We need to know how our actions affect the environment and whether the actions we are taking to improve the environment are working.

“Decisions need to be better informed by evidence, and those decisions and their consequences need to be scrutinable.”

Upton suggested that governments report on how they contribute to a set of prescribed environmental goals, just as they report on child poverty.

He said the report should be done at least once every three years.

“Establishing reporting requirements in the Public Finance Act 1989, explicitly linked to the Environmental Reporting Act 2015, would strengthen the link between environmental reporting, strategic planning and investment.”

On the positive side, he identified “new exceptions” to his criticism. It’s a report on climate change.

“result [emissions reductions] There is clarity across government agencies, spending is increasingly mapped to outcomes, single plans are being developed to achieve these outcomes, and clear efforts are being made to assess the environmental impacts of major initiatives. It’s done,” he said.

Upton sought to reveal which government agencies spent what in fiscal year 2020 to achieve the six environmental outcomes he identified.

He estimated that across government, the largest sum of money ($815 million) was spent on “reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” It was funded almost entirely by the Ministry of the Environment (MfE), the agency that spends the most on the environment.

The environmental goal that received the second highest amount ($613 million) was ‘Enhancing the functioning and resilience of biodiversity and ecosystems’.

It was funded almost 50/50 by the Department of Nature Conservation and the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI).

MPI was identified as the second highest spending institution. Its spending was spread relatively broadly across the goals.

Upton estimated that the result of receiving the third largest amount of funding ($492 million) was “improving the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions designed to manage human interventions in the environment.” Did.

Funding for this achievement came from various departments, but the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) was the largest contributor. MBIE was also her third largest contributor to the environment.

Other environmental achievements identified by Upton are “Aotearoa Land and Freshwater Improvement,” which received $287 million from MPI and MBIE, and “Pollution and Cleanliness,” which received $248 million from MBIE and MfE. reduction of waste”.

We received $109 million to improve Aotearoa’s coastal and marine environment, most of it from MPI.

“Failing to address environmental issues is not without costs,” Upton said.

“Environmental costs tend to grow over time. If they continue to be ignored, the costs of remediating them will eventually become unmanageable.”

Auditor John Ryan supported Upton’s report.

“The commissioner’s report provides further evidence of the problems my office has consistently identified,” Ryan said, adding that his office went to reports on Covid-19 and state growth fund spending. I mentioned a survey.

“In my view, there is a comprehensive set of arrangements for ensuring that Congress and the public understand what the government is trying to achieve, what it is spending, and what progress is being made. need to be reviewed.

“In exchange, this will help the public sector maintain an informed, trusted and lasting connection with the public that they are ultimately there to serve.”

Ryan said a government-wide performance report would also help focus long-term discussions and some of the more difficult issues facing the country.