PALIKIR, Pohnpei—An assessment by the FSM Office of the National Public Auditor found that the national government has established many of the structures, policies and commitments needed to address climate change, but significant gaps remain in coordination, planning, monitoring and particularly climate financing.
The Office of the National Public Auditor, or ONPA, assessed the FSM Government’s climate-change efforts using the international ClimateScanner methodology, examining governance, public policies and climate finance.
Overall, the FSM was rated at the “intermediate” level of implementation. Governance and public policies each received scores of 61 percent, while climate finance received a substantially lower score of 36 percent.
Of 19 components examined, eight were assessed at the advanced level, eight at the intermediate level, two at the early stage of implementation and one as having no implementation or being inapplicable to the FSM.
The assessment does not measure whether the FSM’s climate policies are successfully achieving their intended results. Instead, the ClimateScanner methodology examines whether the necessary systems, policies and structures are in place. The assessment used a standardized framework consisting of 19 components and 66 individual items, assigning implementation ratings ranging from none and early implementation to intermediate and advanced.
The ClimateScanner initiative is led by Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts, the country’s Supreme Audit Institution, together with the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions Working Group on Environmental Auditing. ONPA participated as the FSM’s Supreme Audit Institution.
In the governance category, auditors found the FSM at an advanced level in several areas, including its institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks, governance structure, long-term strategies and risk-management approaches. The assessment also placed the FSM at the advanced level for climate-change inclusiveness, oversight and litigation.
However, ONPA rated the government at the intermediate level for coordination between different levels of government, monitoring, transparency and accountability mechanisms.
Public policies also received an overall score of 61 percent.
The auditors found the FSM at the advanced level in fulfilling its international climate commitments. The FSM submitted its 2022 Nationally Determined Contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, documenting its greenhouse-gas reduction and adaptation goals and identifying policies, financing and technology needed to carry them out.
However, ONPA found some policies and plans were outdated or had not been approved, resulting in an intermediate rating in that area. The report also found that the FSM has yet to develop a National Adaptation Plan, which the auditors said would improve coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting of climate-change mitigation and adaptation activities.
Climate finance emerged as the weakest of the three major areas assessed.
ONPA gave the FSM a 36 percent implementation score for climate financing. The assessment examined whether plans and budgets are aligned with climate goals, whether systems exist to track and report domestic and international climate financing and whether mechanisms are available to mobilize private financing.
“The FSM Government largely depended on donors to fund climate change actions in the FSM,” the report said. “There was no funding from the FSM Government.”
According to the report, a climate-finance strategy remains under development and is expected to be produced through the Green Climate Fund-supported FSM National Adaptation Plan Planning Project. ONPA said such a strategy is needed to improve access to climate funding as well as coordination, monitoring and accountability for funds donated to the FSM Government.
The assessment comes as the FSM continues to face substantial climate-related risks despite contributing comparatively little to global greenhouse-gas emissions.
The report identifies food and water security among the country’s vulnerable areas. Sea-level rise contributes to coastal erosion and threatens agricultural production and freshwater supplies through saltwater intrusion, while ocean acidification and coral bleaching threaten reef ecosystems important to food security.
According to the report, the FSM’s 2022 Nationally Determined Contributions set a target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by more than 65 percent below 2000 levels. The country has not yet established a 2050 emissions target.
In summarizing the assessment, ONPA identified four principal areas for improvement: stronger coordination between levels of government; greater capacity to plan, implement and track climate activities; improved access to and management of climate financing; and better data systems to support government decision-making.
The report characterized limited technical and institutional capacity, gaps in national-state coordination, inconsistent access to funding, and weak data and monitoring systems as the principal challenges confronting the FSM’s climate response. ONPA said the assessment is intended to provide a baseline against which the country’s future climate efforts can be measured.
The full Assessment of FSM Government’s Performance on Climate Change Governance, Public Policy and Finance, Report No. 2026-01, is available from the FSM Office of the National Public Auditor at:
http://www.fsmopa.fm/files/onpa/2025/FSM%20Government%20ClimateScanner%20Assessment%20Report,%202026-01,%2010.30.25.signed.pdf
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