As most part of the continent, South Africa is particularly vulnerable to global warming owing to the low resilience to extreme climate events of a significant part of the population, already low and variable rainfall in large parts of the country, a substantial share of surface water resources being already fully allocated, and the centrality of agriculture and fisheries for food security and local (rural) livelihoods. South Africa will be heavily exposed to amplified water stress, reduced yield from rain-fed agriculture, an increase of arid and semi-arid land, heightened food security issues, and extremely high costs of adaptation, particularly in low-lying coastal areas.

This paper conducts a case study focused on the state of the tracking of public and private climate-related inflows to South Africa. It investigates South Africa’s strategy on climate finance (tracking), describes South Africa’s project-based approach with regards to tracking. It then goes on  explore what data on public (domestic and foreign) and private climate finance inflows are currently available in South Africa and how information is collected. It also highlights the challenges with regards to tracking climate finance in South Africa and formulates recommendations.

The establishment of effective and robust domestic mechanisms aimed at strategically mobilising, coordinating and monitoring climate finance flows at the country level represents a key priority for South Africa (and other developing countries) to foster efficiently the country’s climate change response and to knowledgeably engage at the international level in both the political and technical discussions on determining what and how to count towards the USD 100-billion commitment which has underpinned the UNFCCC consensus since 2009.