Examining the role of environmental audits of the court of accounts in combating environmental and climate problems

With the intensification of global environmental and climate issues, public fiscal policies and instruments have increasingly been utilized in a more environmentally focused manner. In this context, a significant increase has been observed in the number of environmental audits conducted by supreme audit institutions compared to previous periods. This study primarily aims to examine the role of supreme audit institutions in addressing environmental and climate issues that threaten the planet's sustainability, as well as to analyses the environmental audits conducted by the Turkish Court of Accounts. The research is based on document analysis and interview methods. Although awareness of environmental audits has increased in national and international literature in recent years, none of these studies have conducted interviews with auditors working in supreme audit institutions focusing on environmental audits and sustainable development. This study was designed to include interviews with auditors and adopted a phenomenological approach. This design enabled a comprehensive examination of auditors' experiences regarding environmental audits and an analysis of the effectiveness and role of these audits in achieving environmental sustainability goals. The qualitative data obtained in the study were analyzed using the MAXQDA software. The data were first coded using an inductive analysis technique and then categorized into related themes and categories. It allowed for an in-depth examination of the findings and the identification of significant patterns among participants' perspectives. According to the study's results, the importance of public environmental audits is increasing worldwide, including in Turkey; however, there are still areas that require improvement. In addition, auditors have emphasized that audits promote a culture of sustainability by raising environmental awareness in public institutions.