160-200 mn Indians could be exposed to lethal heat waves annually: World Bank report

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Last Updated02/12/2022

World Bank has released the “Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector” report.

India’s vulnerability
From 2030 onwards, more than 160 to 200 million people could be exposed to a lethal heat wave in India every year.
Around 34 million Indians will face job losses due to heat stress-related productivity decline.
The current food loss due to heat during transportation is close to $13 billion annually.
Opportunity
By 2037, the demand for cooling is likely to be eight times more than current levels.
This could open an investment opportunity of $1.6 trillion by 2040 besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly and creating 3.7 million jobs.
Need to shift to a more energy-efficient pathway
With the demand for cooling shooting up, there will be a demand for a new air-conditioner every 15 seconds.
It can lead to an expected rise of 435% in annual greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades.
There is a need to shift to a more energy-efficient pathway which could lead to a substantial reduction in expected CO2 levels.

The report proposes a roadmap to support New Delhi’s India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) 2019.
Adopt climate-responsive cooling techniques as a norm in both private and government-funded constructions.
This can ensure that those at the bottom of the economic ladder are not disproportionately affected by rising temperatures.
India’s affordable housing program for the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), can adopt such changes on scale.
Enact a policy for district cooling which could lead to the consumption of 20-30% less power than the most efficient conventional cooling solutions.
District cooling technologies generate chilled water in a central plant which is then distributed to multiple buildings via underground insulated pipes.
This brings down the cost for providing cooling to individual buildings.
Fix gaps in cold chain distribution networks by investing in pre-cooling and refrigerated transport.
This will minimise rising food and pharmaceutical wastage during transport due to higher temperatures.
It can help decrease food loss by about 76% and reduce carbon emissions by 16%.
Improvement in servicing, maintenance and disposal of equipment that uses hydro chlorofluorocarbons.
This can create two million jobs for trained technicians over the next two decades.
It reduces the demand for refrigerants by around 31%.
Effective implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30 with the state playing a leading role is also suggested in the report.