New Delhi: Extreme heat made at least three times more likely by human-induced climate change may have affected 619 million Indians in over just nine days in mid-June alone — the highest across the world during this time — according to a report released by Climate Central, an independent group of scientists and communicators that parses data on climate change and its impact on people.
As per the report published on June 27, more than 60% of the world’s population — 4.97 billion people — faced extreme heat that was made at least three times more likely by climate change between June 16 and 24.
Data based on the Climate Shift Index
Climate Central’s global Climate Shift Index (CSI) — launched in 2022 — is a tool that maps the influence of climate change on daily temperatures across the world. The CSI ranges from -5 to +5, with positive levels indicating temperatures that are becoming more likely due to climate change and negative scores indicating conditions that are becoming less likely. For example, a CSI of level three means that a temperature occurs three times more frequently at a location when compared to a world without human-caused climate change.
Also read: What the Scorching Summer Does to Delhi’s Informal Workers
Researchers at Climate Central analysed the maximum CSI value over time for every pixel in the world from June 16 to 24 this year. They then summed up the population present at pixels where the CSI was greater than or equal to three (level three amounts to a “very strong” impact of climate change on the temperature seen in that location). To get global and nation-wide patterns, they repeated this process for each country individually.
Their findings suggest that more than 60% of the world’s population — 4.97 billion people — faced extreme heat that was made at least three times more likely by climate change between June 16 and 24 this year.
India leads here too
This data, based on temperature deviations and population estimates, revealed that India had the highest population that may have been affected by the heat, at 619 million, followed by China (579 million) and Indonesia (231 million).
Table: The number of people affected (in millions) by extreme heat made at least three times more likely due to climate change across several countries.
A prolonged heat wave affected various regions of India in June, resulting in over 40 cases of heatstroke and more than 100 fatalities by the time it subsided in mid-June.
Photo: Climate Central
