As negotiators at COP30 (Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Belm, Brazil, spent much of the opening week warning that extreme heat was pushing some of the world’s fastest-growing economies towards a dangerous energy trap, a new India-focused analysis released on the sidelines of the summit sharpened that message, showing how rising temperatures, heatwaves and fossil-heavy electricity demand were feeding into one another.
advertisement
The report, ‘Breaking the Cycle’, maps decadal trends between 2015 and 2024 and shows a rapid rise in both temperatures and peak electricity loads across India. Annual mean temperature climbed to 25.74 °C in 2024, the hottest year since records began, an increase of 0.65 °C above the 1991-2020 average. Peak heat pushed cooling demand sharply higher and created a joint escalation of electricity consumption and emissions.
Heatwaves alone added close to
Continue Reading on India Today
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.