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Environment, energy and sustainability

Our work in this sector includes auditing the annual financial statements of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the public bodies they sponsor, including the Rural Payments Agency, The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the Coal Authority.

We produce a wide range of VfM reports, covering environmental programmes managed by Defra, the management of energy liabilities by DECC and wider topics. We also provide briefings and reports to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee and the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.

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Advice, guidance and tools

In addition to formal reports to Parliament, we also produce a range of other outputs from our financial audit and VFM work. Examples include:

Departmental Overview: A summary of the NAO's work on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2010-2011

September 2011

This Departmental Overview is one of 17 we have produced covering our work on each major government department.

DEFRA Departmental Overview 2010-2011

Departmental Overview: A summary of the NAO's work on the Department for Energy and Climate Change 2010-2011

September 2011

This Departmental Overview is one of 17 we have produced covering our work on each major government department.

DECC Departmental Overview 2010-2011

The modelling used to set Feed-in Tariffs for solar photovoltaics: A briefing for the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee and the Energy and Climate Change Committee

November 2011

This briefing has been prepared for the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee and the Energy and Climate Change Committee, to inform their joint inquiry into the Government’s 31 October 2011 consultation on proposals for solar power Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs).

The modelling used to set Feed-in Tariffs for solar photovoltaics

Aid and the environment. A briefing for the House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee

March 2011

The NAO have compiled this briefing for the Environmental Audit Committee in support of the inquiry it is undertaking on the impact of UK overseas aid on environmental protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Aid and the environment

Energy and Climate Change Committee inquiry into UK deepwater drilling - Memorandum submitted by the NAO

February 2011

This Memorandum was prepared for the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change select committee to support its inquiry into the implications of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for UK deep water drilling.

UK deepwater drilling memorandum

Report by the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing: The Climate is Changing - Key Implications for Governments and their Auditors

November 2010

Report of a cooperative audit of governments' efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change to which the NAO contributed.

The Climate is Changing - Key Implications for Governments and their Auditors

Assessing the cost to public funds of animal diseases

October 2010

Commentary on cost data provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Advisory Group on Responsibility and Cost Sharing

Assessing the cost to public funds of animal diseases