What is troubling about the heatwave affecting the 1.8 billion people on the Indian subcontinent is not just that it is so hot, but that the record-breaking temperatures arrived so early. Scorching heat is usual for the months of April to July, but a heatwave in March is not normal. March was the hottest in India and Pakistan since records began 122 years ago. Records are being broken by large margins. In India’s capital, Delhi, thermometers reached an unprecedented 49C in May, far exceeding the previous highest-ever temperature of 45.6C in 1941. Meanwhile, heatwaves raged at both of Earth’s poles. This weekend, deadly heat hit Spain and the south-western US.
Heatwaves around the world – including this year in south Asia – have been made more frequent and hotter because of the human-made climate emergency. The world’s poorest people, who have contributed very little to global heating, will bear the brunt of it. There will be a loss of life and livelihoods, especially for those forced to work outside in skin-splitting heat. A study in the Lancet last year suggested that 740,000 deaths in India a year could already be attributed to global heating.
