India on a Heating Edge - A Climate Crossroads

Aditi Joshi
Sep 22
6 min read

Updated: Oct 11

2024 was India’s hottest year since records began in 1901

The heat that once signaled summer in India has begun to take on an unfamiliar intensity. In 2024, land surface temperatures climbed 0.65 °C above the 1991-2020 baseline - the sharpest rise in over a century, according to the India Meteorological Department’s 2025 Climate Summary. These figures are not confined to charts. They are visible in power cuts during heatwaves, in farmers delaying sowing, and in households lying awake through nights that no longer cool. India, home to over a billion people, is facing climate stress not in the distant future but here and now.

Nights That No Longer Heal

For generations, evenings brought relief from the day’s harsh sun. That rhythm is changing.

A 2025 national study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) found that 70% of India’s districts have seen a rise in “very warm nights.” In contrast, fewer than a third have registered similar increases in extreme daytime heat. Mumbai, for instance, reported 15 unusually warm nights in a single year.

India’s cities amplify these risks. Delhi has emerged as one of the most heat-stressed, with more than half of its districts categorized as “very high risk.” Concrete-heavy neighborhoods trap heat, while rising humidity ensures that residents feel warmer for longer.

The implications are serious. Nights that stay hot prevent bodies from recovering from daytime exposure. Humidity compounds the problem - with even a 10% increase in moisture making sweating ineffective as a cooling mechanism. Outdoor workers, elderly populations, and low-income households without fans or cooling appliances are particularly at risk. Public health experts now warn of a silent crisis: fatigue, dehydration, and higher hospital admissions linked not just to heatwaves, but to the nights that follow them.

Cities on the Edge

Yet there are lessons to learn. Ahmedabad, devastated by a deadly heatwave in 2010 that claimed over 1,300 lives, developed South Asia's first Heat Action Plan (HAP) in 2013. According to CDKN, the initiative - featuring early warning systems, cooling shelters, community outreach, and reflective “cool roofs” - has reduced heat-related deaths by up to 25%. Partnerships with SEWA and NRDC confirm that reflective roofing materials can lower indoor temperatures by up to 5 °C, offering not just comfort but survival for informal-settlement families.

Evidence shows that these strategies have had real impact: the number of deaths in May - a peak heat month, dropped below the monthly average in 2019 and 2022, and in 2023 it was just 3% higher than average, a dramatic turnaround from pre-HAP years.

Other Indian cities are also stepping up:

Prayagraj (Allahabad) recently scaled up its HAP with whitewashing rooftops in slum areas using lime and Fevicol, reducing indoor temperatures by 3-4 °C. The plan is supported by radio jingles, water kiosks, shaded rest areas, and public health coordination - measures praised by NDMA and central authorities.

Bhubaneswar is piloting cool paints (reflective coatings) on roads, flyovers, walls, and rooftops, alongside green bus stops and semi-open building designs, aiming to mitigate urban heat island effects.

Lucknow and other UP cities are deploying “mini-forests” under the Upvan Scheme: green zones of ~2,000 sq m each, developed across municipal jurisdictions to bring down surface temperatures using dense native planting (Miyawaki method).

Churu (Rajasthan) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) launched advanced HAPs in 2025 - integrating hyperlocal vulnerability mapping, future climate projections to 2050, GIS-informed interventions, and inclusive cooling strategies like cool roofs and reflective paints.

Greening as a Cooling Force

Among the most powerful defenses against rising heat is also the most natural: trees. In July 2025, Greenpeace India recorded that shaded zones in Delhi’s parks were almost 10 °C cooler than nearby built-up areas. Such findings highlight that urban forests are not luxuries but climate shields.

This cooling effect, alongside carbon benefits, is enhanced by the right mix of Indian native species. Research from the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) highlights that species such as Peepal (Ficus religiosa), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), and Indian Kino (Pterocarpus marsupium) not only thrive in urban conditions but are highly efficient at sequestering CO₂ - up to 1 tonne per tree over its lifetime and offer cooling advantages ranging between 1–5 °C in localized areas.

At a more granular level, a study from Ludhiana evaluating roadside urban trees found that Dalbergia sissoo (Shisham) sequesters an impressive 1.65 tonnes of CO₂ per tree, while species like Putranjiva roxburghii, Chukrasia tabularis, and Alstonia scholaris also show strong sequestration potential.

Together, these findings emphasize that urban forestry should prioritize native, high-benefit species - not just for cooling but for climate mitigation too.

However, access to green spaces remains deeply uneven. Many working-class neighborhoods lack tree cover, leaving them exposed to rising urban temperatures. Encouragingly, citizen-driven restoration projects are filling some of these gaps. Gurugram’s Aravalli Biodiversity Park - once a degraded mining site - has been transformed into a thriving forest that cools neighborhoods, stores groundwater, and provides habitat for native species. Rewilding efforts like this underline that ecological restoration can be as vital to urban resilience as engineered infrastructure.

Energy Choices at the Crossroads

India faces a stark energy paradox. Coal continues to dominate, providing nearly 70% of electricity, even as the nation pursues green power options. In 2024, India added 5.6 GW of new coal-fired capacity, the highest increase since at least six years, reinforcing a reliance on fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh is providing a cleaner counterpart. With a capacity of 750 MW, it meets nearly 60% of Delhi Metro’s daytime power needs and cuts carbon emissions by about 1.5 million tonnes annually.

India is also accelerating on the wind front. As of 31 March 2025, the country had installed over 50 GW of wind energy capacity, placing it among the top wind producers globally.

This dual trend - coal’s continued prominence alongside renewable expansion - illustrates the crossroads at which India stands. Much of this tension is driven by rising demand itself: India's per capita electricity consumption rose to approximately 1,395 kWh in FY 2023-24, marking a 45.8 % increase from around 957 kWh in FY 2013-14. Moreover, preliminary findings for FY 2024-25 show consumption reaching about 1,538 kWh per capita, underscoring the continuously growing appetite for electricity.

In other words, even rapid renewable adoption has not offset the structural push for more power. The direction chosen in the coming decade will shape whether emissions trend upward or begin to plateau.

Women Driving Grassroots Solutions

Beyond state-level programs, communities are innovating. In Rajasthan, Barefoot College’s “Solar Mamas” initiative has trained more than 3,500 women in solar engineering since 2008. These women have brought light to over 75,000 off-grid homes while building local businesses around clean energy. Their impact has gone beyond electrification: many return as trainers, creating cycles of empowerment and leadership.

At the national scale, policies are reinforcing this momentum. PM-KUSUM is set to deploy nearly 34.8 GW of decentralized solar by March 2026, including 1.4 million standalone agricultural pumps for farmers. The Saubhagya scheme, launched in 2017, has connected over 28 million households to electricity. Together, these examples show that combining grassroots innovation with government programs can accelerate the transition toward cleaner, more equitable energy access.

Turning Toward Action

India cannot control the rising heat, but it can shape its response. The next steps are clear:

Expand Heat Action Plans nationwide, ensuring localized early warnings, shaded spaces, and reflective roofing in high-risk areas.

Strengthen Himalayan monitoring, blending satellite imagery with village-level sensors and community data-sharing.

Grow urban green cover, prioritizing parks and tree corridors in working-class neighborhoods.

Manage coal’s current dominance while accelerating investment in renewables, grid storage, and demand-side efficiency.

Support women-led and community-based clean energy enterprises, anchoring resilience in local leadership.

Roots of Hope

India’s crossroads is as much about opportunity as it is about risk. The tools are proven: reflective roofs that save lives in Ahmedabad, restored forests that cool Gurugram, flood sensors that protect Himalayan valleys, and women engineers who bring light to villages left off the grid. The science is settled and the solutions are within reach. What remains is urgency and the willingness to act fairly - across regions, classes, and generations.

The fire is real, but so are the embers of hope. If nurtured, they can spark a transition that protects not just lives, but futures.