Climate impact worries and warnings

The results of a survey of 10,751 people in India from December 5, 2024, to February 18, 2025, to better understand public experiences and worries about extreme weather events by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) and CVoter was released recently.

The Yale Climate Note on the survey points out that as the climate warms, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe across India. Indians have recently experienced extreme heat waves, floods, water shortages, and irregular monsoon patterns. These not only harm lives and livelihoods but also shape how people perceive both climate change and extreme weather.

The note highlights that results showed that most respondents said they had personally experienced at least one extreme weather event or related impact in the past 12 months. Majorities had experienced severe heat waves (71%), agricultural pests and diseases (60%), power outages (59%), water pollution (53%), droughts and water shortages (52%), and severe air pollution (52%).

More than half of Indians say they are “very worried” about extinctions of plant and animal species (61%), severe heat waves (56%), agricultural pests and diseases (62%), droughts and water shortages (58%), water pollution (55%), severe air pollution (54%), and famines and food shortages (51%). Majorities think global warming is affecting extreme weather and related impacts in India. Half or more surveyed Indians say global warming is affecting extinctions of plant and animal species (64%), severe heat waves (62%), agricultural pests and diseases (62%), droughts and water shortages (60%), severe air pollution (59%), water pollution (57%), severe cyclones (54%), famines and food shortages (53%), severe floods (53%), monsoons (52%), and severe storms (50%) “a lot.”

The survey found that related impacts are deeply worrisome for many in India. Worry about local impacts is widespread and closely mirrors people’s personal experiences with these events. And, after hearing a definition of global warming, most respondents say that it is affecting these events (especially plant and animal extinctions, heat waves, and agricultural disruptions). However, a significant proportion (32%) of people in India have never heard of global warming. These findings highlight the critical need to raise public awareness about climate change and local climate impacts and reinforce the urgency of both reducing carbon pollution and preparing for future extreme events.

Another study was also conducted recently by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics and commissioned by the World Bank Group to better understand the risks of climate change to development and look at the likely impacts of temperature increases from 2ºC to 4ºC in three regions. A World Bank news feature on the study lists some of the warnings for India. India is already experiencing a warming climate with a decline in monsoon rainfall since the 1950s. The frequency of heavy rainfall events has also increased. Parts of South Asia have become drier since the 1970s with an increase in the number of droughts. In 1987 and 2002-2003, droughts affected more than half of India’s crop area and led to a huge fall in crop production. Even without climate change, 15% of India’s groundwater resources are overexploited. Most Himalayan glaciers have been retreating over the past century. Rapid and unplanned urbanization further increases the risks of sea water intrusion. Even without climate change, world food prices are expected to increase due to growing populations and rising incomes, as well as a greater demand for biofuels.

The feature adds that climate-related impacts on water resources can undermine the two dominant forms of power generation in India – hydropower and thermal power generation – both of which depend on adequate water supplies to function effectively. Many parts of India are already experiencing water stress. Urbanization, population growth, economic development, and increasing demand for water from agriculture and industry are likely to aggravate the situation further. Climate change is expected to have major health impacts in India with the poor likely to be affected most severely. South Asia is a hotspot for the migration of people from disaster-affected or degraded areas to other national and international regions. The Indus and the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basins are major transboundary rivers, and increasing demand for water is already leading to tensions among countries over water sharing.