The Sustainable Futures Collaborative (SFC) released a significant report titled “Is India Ready for a Warming World?” on March 19, 2025, focusing on India’s preparedness for escalating heatwave threats. This Delhi-based independent research organization, in collaboration with experts from King’s College London, Harvard University, Princeton University, and UC Berkeley, assessed heat resilience measures across nine major Indian cities: Bengaluru, Delhi, Faridabad, Gwalior, Kota, Ludhiana, Meerut, Mumbai, and Surat. These cities collectively represent over 11% of India’s urban population (based on the 2011 Census) and are among the most vulnerable to future heat extremes.

Key Findings

Short-Term Focus Dominates: The study, based on 88 interviews with city, district, and state officials responsible for heat action implementation, found that current Heat Action Plans (HAPs) overwhelmingly prioritize immediate, reactive measures—such as providing drinking water, adjusting work schedules, and increasing hospital capacity—over long-term strategies. While these short-term actions are critical during heatwaves, they fail to address the systemic challenges posed by rising temperatures.

Lack of Long-Term Measures: Long-term actions, such as urban greening, heat-resilient infrastructure, occupational cooling solutions, and vulnerability mapping, are either rare or poorly targeted. Where they exist, they are often limited to health system interventions, leaving other sectors like urban planning, labor, and energy unprepared. For instance, the report notes the absence of initiatives like household cooling measures, insurance for lost work, fire management services, or electricity grid retrofits in most cities.

Vulnerability of Marginalized Groups: The study highlights that lower socio-economic groups—such as construction workers and delivery personnel—are disproportionately affected. These individuals face a “double whammy” of working in extreme heat and returning to informal settlements that lack cooling systems, exacerbating their exposure to heat stress.

Implementation Challenges: Interviews revealed key barriers to effective heat action, including coordination failures between departments, competing priorities among officials, and a lack of recognition of heat as a pressing issue. This reactive mindset, rooted in disaster governance focused on post-event relief, is inadequate for the scale of the future heat threat.

City-Specific Insights: While some cities have made strides—e.g., expanding weather stations, mapping urban heat islands, or training heat plan implementers—these efforts are inconsistent. Mumbai, for example, faces rising heatwave frequency and intensity, yet its Maharashtra State Heat Action Plan is criticized for being reactive rather than proactive.

Recommendations

The SFC report calls for a shift from short-term fixes to proactive, long-term resilience strategies:

Institutional Reforms: Strengthen HAPs within local governments to institutionalize long-term actions and improve monitoring. Create permanent, funded specialist positions in the most climate-vulnerable districts, equipped with training for sustained risk mitigation.

Funding and Capacity Building: Leverage disaster mitigation funds for heat-specific measures and launch a multi-year capacity-building effort targeting officials in India’s ten most heat-vulnerable cities to rapidly enhance resilience.

Systemic Urban Planning: Reimagine urban development to include green infrastructure, heat-resistant buildings, and reliable energy systems. This is urgent, as long-term measures like these take years to mature and must begin now to prevent future mortality and economic losses.

Equity-Focused Interventions: Prioritize cooling access and livelihood protections for vulnerable populations to address adaptation justice.

Broader Context and Implications

The SFC’s analysis aligns with broader climate data. Historical records show over 24,000 heatwave-related deaths in India since 1992, with the 2024 heatwave alone claiming over 733 lives—far exceeding official figures due to underreporting. The report warns that without these changes, India risks a significant rise in heat-related deaths as heatwaves become more frequent, intense, and prolonged in a warming world (projected at +1.5°C or higher). It emphasizes that the Global South, including India, must adapt swiftly as global decarbonization efforts falter, placing the burden on local systems to protect citizens.

Authors and Launch

Co-authored by Aditya Valiathan Pillai (visiting fellow at SFC and doctoral researcher at King’s College London), alongside Tamanna Dalal, Ishan Kukreti, and others, the report was launched at the India International Centre in New Delhi on March 19, 2025. The event featured discussions with experts like N.K. Singh (former Finance Commission Chair) and representatives from NDMA, WHO, and Tata Trusts, underscoring its policy relevance ahead of global climate talks.

This study marks SFC’s first systematic multi-city assessment of heat resilience in India, positioning it as a critical resource for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers tackling the intersection of climate change, public health, and sustainable development.

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