The increasing heat is an alarming sign for India. In a report titled “Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector”, The World Bank said that India is experiencing higher temperatures. The reports also stated that the season of these heat waves arrives early and stays for longer.
Heat waves have seen a rise in the last few decades, which has caused the deaths of several people in the country. The report has also warned that India might become a country where the heat wave ‘breaks the limit of human survivability.
The professionals also stated that several scientists have been warning South Asia regarding the unprecedented rise in heat levels.
What does the report say?
“In August 2021, the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the Indian subcontinent would suffer more frequent and intense heat waves over the coming decades…The G20 Climate Risk Atlas also warned in 2021 that heat waves across India were likely to last 25 times longer by 2036-65 if carbon emissions remain high, as in the IPCC’s worst-case emission scenario,’ said the report.
The report was released in the “India Climate and Development Partners’ Meet”. The event was organised by the World Bank in partnership with the Government of Kerala.
“In April 2022, India was plunged into the grip of a punishing early spring heat wave that brought the country to a standstill, with temperatures in the capital, New Delhi, topping 46 degrees Celsius (C) (114 degrees Fahrenheit). The month of March, which witnessed extraordinary spikes in temperatures, was the hottest ever recorded”, the report said.
Will the heat waves affect jobs?
The report elaborated on the loss of jobs in India as a result of the rising degrees. It stated that the labour force in India will be impacted the most, as compared to the rest of South Asian Countries. The report stated that the labour force in India might lose over 101 billion hours a year.
Another report by McKinsey and Company, a global management consulting firm, stated that the rising heat could put over 4.5 percent of India’s GDP at risk in the next 10 years.
“Up to 75 percent of India’s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labour, at times working in potentially life-threatening temperatures. …By 2030, India may account for 34 million of the projected 80 million global job losses from heat stress associated with productivity decline”, the report said.
