Rapid warming a cause of concern

A report that has been published in the State of India’s Environment (SOE) 2026 warns that India is warming fast and questions whether this will it lead to a climate apocalypse.

- Meena Janardhan

The annual SOE report—the flagship publication of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth — was released last week.

The report adds that the Indian landmass was warmer on average by nearly 0.9°C during the previous decade (2015 to 2024) compared to the early 20th century (1901 to 1930). Warming has been uneven, with parts of north India warming as fast as 0.9°C per decade in the past three decades.

While warming over the Indian region is muted compared to the present global warming level of about 1.3°C, temperature extremes in India have been on the rise. Most parts of India, except for the Indo-Gangetic plains, have witnessed an increase in “warm days” — defined as days with maximum temperature exceeding the 90th percentile of daily maximum temperatures during the 1995-2014 periods, by up to 5 to 10 days per decade. This is particularly prominent over northeast, Thar-Rajasthan and peninsular India. Concurrently,

the frequency of “warm nights” - defined as days with minimum temperature exceeding the 90th percentile of daily minimum temperatures during the 1995-2014 periods — is also on the rise especially over parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat.