https://www.ft.com/content/3ff4d106-4baf-4aad-85d2-e591a723cd74
JUNE 22 2022
No sooner had the winter chill lifted than the relentless heatwaves began. Last March was the hottest on record, with temperatures in Delhi crossing 40C by April and touching 49C in May. It was a pattern repeated across much of the Indian subcontinent. In the Pakistani city of Jacobabad, temperatures often pass 50C, sometimes reaching levels at which humans can no longer survive. Heatwaves are becoming the new normal across the region. A study by the UK Met Office found that chances of a record-breaking heatwave in India and Pakistan are 100 times more likely due to climate change. Nowhere else on earth are so many people exposed to such extreme heat. This is also, researchers say, an alarming precursor of the sorts of conditions that millions around the world can expect to face. “This South Asian region is a poster child for climate change,” says Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. He points to recent heatwaves all over the world, in the UK and elsewhere. “It’s not just India, though India is facing the worst scenario.”
Those who can retreat to air-conditioned bubbles. Many middle-class and wealthy Indians opt to spend their weekends at the mall instead of, say, the park. In an absurd twist, I often catch wintry sniffles from visits to freezing offices, shops or restaurants. But escaping the heat is a luxury. Only 5 per cent of Indian households had air conditioning in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency, compared to 90 per cent in the US. Economists estimate that as many as 80 per cent of jobs in India are informal, often outdoors in farming or construction, leaving workers exposed to relentless, extreme heat. This is compounded in cities, where the concrete traps the warmth.
Delhi’s heatwaves carry a warning for the rest of the world
Benjamin ParkinJUNE 22 2022
No sooner had the winter chill lifted than the relentless heatwaves began. Last March was the hottest on record, with temperatures in Delhi crossing 40C by April and touching 49C in May. It was a pattern repeated across much of the Indian subcontinent. In the Pakistani city of Jacobabad, temperatures often pass 50C, sometimes reaching levels at which humans can no longer survive. Heatwaves are becoming the new normal across the region. A study by the UK Met Office found that chances of a record-breaking heatwave in India and Pakistan are 100 times more likely due to climate change. Nowhere else on earth are so many people exposed to such extreme heat. This is also, researchers say, an alarming precursor of the sorts of conditions that millions around the world can expect to face. “This South Asian region is a poster child for climate change,” says Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. He points to recent heatwaves all over the world, in the UK and elsewhere. “It’s not just India, though India is facing the worst scenario.”
Those who can retreat to air-conditioned bubbles. Many middle-class and wealthy Indians opt to spend their weekends at the mall instead of, say, the park. In an absurd twist, I often catch wintry sniffles from visits to freezing offices, shops or restaurants. But escaping the heat is a luxury. Only 5 per cent of Indian households had air conditioning in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency, compared to 90 per cent in the US. Economists estimate that as many as 80 per cent of jobs in India are informal, often outdoors in farming or construction, leaving workers exposed to relentless, extreme heat. This is compounded in cities, where the concrete traps the warmth.
