Climate Change is Fueling Extreme Heat Waves in India

In the spring of 2022, a deadly heat wave struck India and Pakistan. Devastating temperatures reached over 120°F (48.8° C), and over 90 people died slowly from sheer heat. How did this happen? The answer lies in global warming and climate change.

Greenhouse gasses or fossil fuels are burned all over the world, making a layer of carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere. This layer is still growing and still trapping heat. The trapped heat is the main cause of global warming. In many parts of the world, temperatures have already increased by about 0.14° F (0.08° C) per decade since 1980. But why did India get such a large heat wave?

One of the reasons that India has gotten so much media attention for the heat is the astronomically high temperatures. The average summer temperature in New Delhi is about 84° to 106° F. This heat wave, however, got up to 14 degrees above the average hottest temperature in already-hot India. The main reason behind this is the greenhouse gasses (like carbon dioxide from factories and cars) building up in the atmosphere. Because of this, the probability for a massive heat-related mortality event (100 deaths or more) has skyrocketed by over 146% in the last 20 years in India alone. This is such a high statistic that some scientists are wondering if they’ve underestimated other effects of climate change such as melting sea ice. 

If scientists are right about underestimating these effects, India will have some boiling summers (and springs!) soon to come. Sunil Das, a resident of Delhi as of 2022, told CNN that “you can’t work after 10 o’clock in the morning anymore [in the summer].” If the heat waves in India are any indication of the weather to come, in only a few decades, parts of India and Pakistan will be uninhabitable. The Hindu said “over 160-200 million people would be affected by a heat wave every year if emissions stay the same.” Humanity will shrink to a few enclaves around the world and millions will die from rising temperatures.

Even though these effects may seem distant, India’s development is visibly being affected even now. India has many goals like reducing food insecurity, disease, and poverty. Heat waves could make it nearly impossible to meet these goals. India has a population of 1.408 billion people as of 2021 and it’s expected to exceed China for the most populous country in a few decades. Many of those people don’t have access to clean water or air conditioning, making it hard for them to withstand the growing heat. Now add temperatures getting up to 120°, and think about the deadly effects! 

This will also greatly affect low-income residents of India and Pakistan. Many low-income citizens can’t afford air conditioning or sometimes even a fan, so the heat will obviously impact them directly. It could potentially even decrease the income of citizens who work outside or in a non-climate controlled space by making it impossible to work during the hottest hours of the day and forcing people to stay home and try desperately not to overheat. Still, Delhi is urbanizing very quickly, requiring a lot of construction, which involves working long hours in the heat outside. If India doesn’t do anything about these growing heat waves, there will be almost an apocalyptic scene in not too long. The site Scientific American even said that there could be over a million heat deaths per year!

However, the future isn’t all dark for India. According to CNN, “India has demonstrated tremendous leadership in scaling up heat action plans in the last five years by declaring heat waves a natural disaster and mobilizing appropriate relief resources like cool water and occasionally fans.” India’s development goals will also hopefully provide more ways for low-income citizens to find ways of cooling their homes, even if it’s just a small house fan. If India is successful in these relief efforts, then hopefully Indian residents will finally have respite from these deadly heat waves.