Climate Change and India's Resilience Imperative

Context

1. Europe's Escalating Heat Emergency: The World Health Organization (WHO) reported over 1,300 excess deaths across Europe since 21 June 2026, with nearly 191 million people exposed to temperatures above 35°C. 
2. Calling heat stress the "silent killer", WHO warned that Europe—the world's fastest-warming continent—is witnessing once-in-a-generation heatwaves with increasing regularity, underscoring the mounting human costs of global warming.
3. Ageing India's Climate Vulnerability: Simultaneously, recent assessments identify India's rapidly ageing population as an emerging climate-risk group, with older persons projected to constitute one-fifth of the population by 2050. 
4. Rising exposure to heatwaves, climate-sensitive diseases and disrupted healthcare has transformed climate change into a public health and social protection challenge, necessitating closer integration of climate adaptation with health and welfare systems.
5. Record Human-Induced Warming: The latest Indicators of Global Climate Change assessment found that human activities accounted for 1.37°C of the 1.39°C global warming recorded in 2025—the highest anthropogenic contribution on record. 
6. Collectively, these developments highlight that climate change is now a systemic governance, development, economic and public health challenge, making adaptation and mitigation complementary pillars of sustainable development.

How Is Climate Change Reshaping the World and India?

1. Expanding Global Vulnerability: The World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion people face life-changing exposure to at least one major climate hazard, while over two-thirds of disaster-affected households in low-income countries lose income or assets. 
2. Climate change has thus become a development risk multiplier, simultaneously deepening poverty, inequality, displacement and livelihood insecurity rather than remaining merely an environmental concern.
3. Transforming Public Health: Climate change is reshaping disease geography by intensifying heat-related illnesses, expanding vector-borne diseases, worsening air pollution and straining health systems. 
4. Intensifying Heat and Urban Stress: According to the IMD, heatwave frequency over India's Core Heatwave Zone, covering nearly 30% of the country's land area, has increased by 0.1 days per decade since 1961, while maximum duration has lengthened by 0.55 days per decade. 
5. Disrupting Development Systems: Climate change is increasingly destabilising the interconnected food-water-energy nexus through erratic monsoons, glacier retreat, droughts, floods and rising cooling demand. 
6. The Himachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2025 notes that increasing climate-induced disasters due to erratic weather have inflicted significant economic losses and human casualties, underscoring the need for climate-resilient development. 
7. Becoming a Lived Reality: A nationally representative Yale Program on Climate Change Communication survey found that 71% of Indians experienced severe heatwaves, 60% agricultural pests and diseases, 59% power outages, 53% water pollution, and 52% droughts or water shortages during the previous year. 
8. Climate change has therefore shifted from a projected environmental threat to an everyday governance, development and livelihood challenge, demanding system-wide rather than sector-specific policy responses.

What Are the Major Structural Challenges Before India? 

1. As India advances towards Viksit Bharat 2047, rising heat stress is reducing labour productivity and economic output. 
2. Construction workers, sanitation workers, street vendors and delivery personnel remain highly exposed despite occupational heat safeguards. 
3. Weak enforcement, limited cooling access and inadequate social protection increasingly threaten employment, productivity and inclusive growth.

1. Climate change is reshaping public health by increasing heat-related illnesses, malnutrition and climate-sensitive diseases. 
2. Rising temperatures have shifted Delhi-NCR's dengue season to November and expanded malaria into Himachal Pradesh. 
3. With older persons projected to constitute 20% of India's population by 2050, climate vulnerability is becoming a demographic challenge. 
4. The World Bank projects climate-related health costs of US$21 trillion by 2050, with 44 million people potentially pushed into extreme poverty through health impacts alone.

1. India's rapid urban expansion is intensifying the Urban Heat Island effect, making cities 2°C–10°C hotter than surrounding areas. 
2. According to the IMD, heatwave frequency over the Core Heatwave Zone has increased by 0.1 days per decade since 1961, while duration has increased by 0.55 days per decade. 
3. Climate resilience therefore remains inadequately integrated into urban planning, housing and building regulations.

1. Infrastructure continues to be planned using historical climate norms despite increasing climatic extremes. 
2. The record 270.8 GW peak electricity demand during the 2026 heatwave illustrates growing pressure on power systems, transport, water supply and public infrastructure. 
3. Without climate-proofing, these risks will increasingly translate into higher fiscal costs and energy insecurity.

1. Climate change is disrupting the food-water-energy nexus through erratic monsoons, groundwater depletion, glacier retreat and rising cooling demand. 
2. The Hindu Kush Himalaya, supporting nearly two billion people, faces increasing risks from declining snow persistence and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), threatening agriculture, irrigation, hydropower and water security.

1. As India expands manufacturing under Make in India, decarbonising the industry without compromising competitiveness remains difficult. 
2. World Resources Institute India estimates industry contributes nearly 30% of national greenhouse gas emissions and could triple by 2050 without additional action. 
3. Scaling green hydrogen, CCUS, electrification, circular economy practices and the Indian Carbon Market (ICM) will be critical.

1. India's adaptation needs continue to exceed available resources. 
2. UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)estimates an annual US$800 billion climate finance gap across developing Asia-Pacific economies, while the World Bank reports less than 17% of global climate finance reaches local levels. 
3. Consequently, small farmers, women, tribal communities, elderly persons and informal workers bear disproportionate climate risks, making climate justice central to adaptation policy.

1. India's climate ambitions depend upon an equitable international regime. 
2. Although COP30 proposed mobilising US$1.3 trillion annually by 2035 under the evolving New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), delayed 2035 NDCs, inadequate adaptation finance and limited technology transfer continue to constrain implementation. 
3. For India and the Global South, effective operationalisation of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities, Just Transition and predictable climate finance remains indispensable.

What Measures Have Been Taken to Address Climate Change?

1. The Paris Agreement anchors global climate action through NDCs, the Global Goal on Adaptation, Enhanced Transparency Framework and Global Stocktake. 
2. Complementing it, the Sendai Framework, SDGs (1, 3, 7, 11 & 13) and NAPs integrate climate resilience with sustainable development. 
3. At COP30 (Belém), countries endorsed the Belém Package, Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for Just Transition, and an aspirational US$1.3 trillion annual climate finance by 2035 under the evolving NCQG.

1. India's climate governance is driven by National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) and the National Disaster Management Plan. 
2. The 2031–35 NDC (2026) commits to 47% reduction in emissions intensity, 60% non-fossil installed power capacity, and an additional 3.5–4.0 billion tonnes CO₂-equivalent carbon sink by 2035, aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047 and Net Zero 2070. 
3. India had already achieved several earlier 2030 NDC targets ahead of schedule.

1. India is expanding Green Hydrogen Mission, PM Surya Ghar, PM-KUSUM, Green Energy Corridors, Battery Energy Storage, PLI, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and nuclear energy. 
2. Over 53% of installed electricity capacity (March 2026) is now non-fossil. 
3. Simultaneously, the Indian Carbon Market (ICM) under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) promotes market-based decarbonisation across major industrial sectors through Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs).

1. Adaptation is being strengthened through Heat Action Plans (HAPs), Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes (MISHTI), the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), the Soil Health Card Scheme (SHCS), and technology-enabled early warning systems using the IMD, the NDMA, AI, Remote Sensing, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
2. India's global initiatives—the International Solar Alliance (ISA), One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG), the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA), and Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT)—along with successful models such as the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan and Odisha's cyclone preparedness, reinforce climate-resilient and low-carbon development.

How Can India Build Long-Term Climate Resilience? 

1. ntegrate mandatory Climate Impact Assessments and future climate projections into public investment, infrastructure planning and sectoral policies under PM Gati Shakti and Viksit Bharat 2047 to institutionalise climate-resilient development.

1. Establish a National Climate and Health Mission integrating One Health, Ayushman Bharat, IMD, ICMR and heat-health early warning systems to protect vulnerable groups, particularly the elderly and outdoor workers.

1. Mandate blue-green infrastructure, cool roofs, passive cooling, permeable surfaces and climate-responsive building standards through Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and revised urban planning to reduce Urban Heat Island effects.

1. Expand the Indian Carbon Market (ICM), strengthen CCTS, and scale green hydrogen, CCUS, electrification and circular economy practices to achieve India's enhanced 2031–35 NDCs and Net Zero 2070.

1. Mainstream Nature-based Solutions (NbS) by restoring wetlands, mangroves, forests and floodplains through initiatives such as MISHTI and the Green India Mission, enhancing resilience alongside biodiversity conservation.

1. Expand green bonds, blended finance and municipal resilience funds while advocating an equitable NCQG, operational Loss and Damage Fund, CBDR-RC and Just Transition under the Belém Action Mechanism.

1. Develop a national Climate Risk Intelligence Platform using AI, remote sensing and satellite data, while strengthening India's leadership through ISA, CDRI, Global Biofuel Alliance, LeadIT and Mission LiFE to advance SDG 13 and climate justice.

Conclusion

Climate resilience must evolve from an environmental objective into the foundation of India's development strategy. By aligning Viksit Bharat 2047, the 2031–35 NDC, Mission LiFE, SDGs and the Paris Agreement, India can demonstrate that high economic growth, climate justice and ecological sustainability are complementary pillars of long-term national prosperity.

UPSC Prelims Connect

Q.Which of the following best describes/describe the aim of ‘Green India Mission’ of the Government of India? (2016) 

1. Incorporating environmental benefits and costs into the Union and State Budgets thereby implementing the ‘green accounting’. 
2. Launching the second green revolution to enhance agricultural output so as to ensure food security to one and all in the future. 
3. Restoring and enhancing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures. 

Select the correct answer using the code given below. 

(a) 1 only 

(b) 2 and 3 only 

(c) 3 only 

(d) 1, 2 and 3 

Ans: (c) 

Q. With reference to ‘Global Climate Change Alliance’, which of the following statements is/are correct? (2017) 

1. It is an initiative of the European Union. It provides technical and financial support to targeted developing countries to integrate climate change into their development policies and budgets. 
2. It is coordinated by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). 

Select the correct answer using the code given below: 

(a) 1 and 2 only 

(b) 3 only 

(c) 2 and 3 only 

(d) 1, 2 and 3 

Ans: (a)

UPSC Mains Connect

Q. “Besides being a moral imperative of a Welfare State, primary health structure is a necessary precondition for sustainable development.” Analyse. (2021)

Q. Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference? (2021)

Q. ‘Climate change’ is a global problem. How will India be affected by climate change? How Himalayan and coastal states of India are affected by climate change? (2017)

QuestlinkIAS Practice Question

Prelims:

Q. With reference to India's climate commitments and policy framework, consider the following statements:

1. India's updated 2031–35 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets achieving 60% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2035.
2. The Indian Carbon Market (ICM) functions under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) and issues Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs) as tradable instruments.
3. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is a statutory framework enacted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

 (a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

Answer: (b)

Mains:

Q. Carbon markets and climate finance are emerging as complementary pillars of the global low-carbon transition. In this context, critically examine the potential of the Indian Carbon Market (ICM) in advancing India's decarbonisation goals, while highlighting the institutional and climate finance challenges that could constrain its effectiveness. (250 Words)

Source Editorial- 

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/need-for-inclusive-integrated-climate-action/article71167239.ece