Between October 2020 and June 2024 Mokoro worked alongside the South African National Treasury and World Bank to understand the needs for, and objectives of, a climate budget tagging (CBT) system for South Africa. They subsequently designed and tested a draft system, followed by a series of pilots. The assignment was in three phases, with the first two (up to June 2022) conducted in partnership with OneWorld.

Incorporating climate and Just Transition considerations into budget and planning processes in South Africa is seen as an important process for establishing a conducive regulatory, policy and institutional environment that enables efficient response to climate change. CBT tracks and monitors climate change-relevant expenditure in the public budget system, providing the credible expenditure data required for public planning and budgeting processes.

In phases one and two Mokoro and OneWorld led awareness raising workshops, reviewed international experience on CBT practice, conducted capacity needs assessments, developed design options and engaged stakeholders in all spheres of government on design choices. The draft CBT system was designed, then tested in eight pilot sites with selected national and provincial government departments, and metropolitan and local municipalities. In phase three, Mokoro refined the CBT framework and simplified the methodology, in order for it to be more accessible and less demanding on scarce human resources in government. The Mokoro team undertook additional consultations with key stakeholders, simplified the framework and then provided guidance materials and templates to inform further pilots of the refined CBT framework.