At the Anil Agarwal Dialogue 2025, climate experts painted a grim picture of India’s worsening extreme weather, highlighting urban heat, rising nighttime temperatures, and the growing impact of climate change on agriculture.
Urban Heat and Warm Nights on the Rise
In the session titled “In the Red: Why Are Our Cities Heating Up?”, experts discussed how increasing urban heat islands and warm nights are endangering public health and livelihoods.
Climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, explained that India is highly vulnerable to extreme weather due to its tropical location and rapidly warming oceans. “The Indian Ocean may enter a permanent heatwave state by 2050,” Koll warned, adding that oceanic heatwaves could increase from 20–50 days per year to 220–250 days.
Anand Sharma, former Additional Director General of the India Meteorological Department, pointed out that minimum nighttime temperatures are rising due to factors like increased cloud cover, aerosols, and urban expansion. Rajneesh Sareen, Programme Director at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), warned that cities are not cooling down at night, worsening the urban heat island effect, especially with increasing concrete structures that trap heat.
The session also explored how extreme weather is affecting India’s agriculture, the country’s largest employment sector.
Amit Khurana, Programme Director for Sustainable Food Systems at CSE, stressed that rising minimum temperatures are a major threat to farming, increasing climate-related risks. Farmers in high-risk districts are paying high insurance premiums but receiving minimal claim benefits.
D Venugopal, Deputy Director of Crop Insurance at the Department of Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, noted that lack of transparency in the insurance sector is a major challenge. “Better yield and weather data accuracy is essential for improving crop insurance mechanisms,” he said.
With over 80 journalists attending the conclave at the Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute in Rajasthan, discussions underscored the urgent need for sustainable urban planning, climate-resilient agriculture, and policy reforms to tackle the growing climate crisis in South Asia.