Climate Change Fuels Intense Heatwaves in India, Lancet Report Reveals

Mon Dec 01 2025 00:27:17 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A recent Lancet study highlights that climate change has significantly intensified India's heatwaves in 2024, leading to severe economic and health impacts.

According to The Lancet's latest report, nearly one-third of heatwave days in India during 2024 were attributed to human-induced climate change. The study recorded an alarming 19.8 heatwave days on average, resulting in extensive economic losses and health risks, notably affecting vulnerable populations.

Almost one-third of the heatwave days India experienced in 2024 were driven by climate change, according to a new report by the medical journal The Lancet.

The report found that India recorded an average of 19.8 heatwave days last year, of which 6.6 days would not have occurred without human-induced climate change.

It also estimated that heat exposure in 2024 resulted in the loss of 247 billion potential labour hours, mostly in the agriculture and construction sectors, amounting to an economic loss of about $194 billion (£151 billion).

While heatwaves are not new to India, their frequency and intensity have been rising steadily over the past few decades because of global warming.

Prolonged exposure to extreme heat has serious repercussions on health. It can overwhelm the body's ability to regulate temperature, increasing the risk of dehydration, heatstroke, cardiovascular stress, and even death - particularly among the elderly, infants, and outdoor workers.

And the 2025 Lancet Countdown report - which tracks the health impact of climate change and is widely regarded as a key scientific reference on the issue - warns that the health risks posed by rising global temperatures are now more severe than ever.

Throughout last year, 152 record-breaking extreme weather events were registered across 61 countries, and life-threatening, extreme heat events are becoming more intense than previously predicted, the report stated.

The climate crisis is a health crisis. Every fraction of a degree of warming costs lives and livelihoods, said Jeremy Farrar, assistant director-general for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care at the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report found that heat-related mortality has increased by 23% worldwide since the 1990s, with an average of around 546,000 deaths each year.

It also reported that the average person worldwide was exposed to 16 days of extreme heat last year that would not have occurred without climate change.

The report highlights that the average air quality in India has worsened over the past few years, with toxic conditions persisting in the Indo-Gangetic plains.

Indeed, atmospheric pollution caused 1.7 million deaths in 2022, particularly due to tiny PM2.5 pollutants. As the upcoming COP30 summit approaches, concerns over climate-related health challenges grow more urgent.