Half of Indian districts at high heat risk: Energy council report

Over half of Indian districts (57%), home to 76% of the population and contributing to a combined GDP of Rs 280 lakh crore (almost 85% of India's GDP at current prices) are currently at high to very high heat risk, an analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water has revealed.

- Jayashree Nandi

NEW DELHI:

Around 417 out of 734 districts fall under high and very high heat risk (151 are high risk, 266 are very high risk), while 201 are at moderate risk and 116 are low to very low risk, the analysis found.

The ten states/UTs with the highest heat risk are: Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

The analysis claims that over the last 40 years (1981-2022), heat extremes in India have increased linearly.

This led to severe heatwave episodes in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2024.

In the last decade, the number of very warm nights has risen faster than that of very hot days.

"We found that even in the traditionally cooler Himalayan regions — where heat thresholds are lower than in the plains and coasts — (the number of) both very hot days and very warm nights have increased. For example, in the union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, the number of very hot days and very warm nights has risen by over 15 days and nights each summer. This could severely impact fragile mountain ecosystem," the analysis said.

In the last decade, North India, particularly the Indo-Gangetic Plains experienced the highest summer relative humidity increase, exacerbating heat stress.