Beijing, China:

Seven people died and three were missing after heavy rain and flooding hit central China’s Hunan province, state media reported Tuesday.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heavy rains battering swathes of the country and many regions enduring sweltering heat waves.

The country is by far the world’s largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and make extreme weather more frequent and intense.

In Hunan’s Yongxing county, three people missing since last Wednesday were confirmed dead after a landslide.

Four more were killed and three remain missing in Zixing, where more than 11,000 people were evacuated after the city experienced record rainfall — some areas receiving 645 millimetres (25 inches) in just 24 hours — state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

The rains damaged nearly 900 homes and caused 1,345 road collapses, Xinhua added. Around 5,400 rescuers have been dispatched to help those affected.

The downpours have been caused by the remnants of Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in eastern China on Thursday, with Hunan particularly hard hit.

On Sunday, a landslide destroyed a guesthouse and killed 15 people, while elsewhere in the province nearly 4,000 residents were evacuated after a dam breach.

On Monday, China’s National Meteorological Centre issued an orange alert, the second highest level, for rainstorms across much of the south, southwest, and centre of the country, as well as the capital Beijing, Hebei province, and Tianjin in the north.

In northeastern Liaoning province, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from areas near the Yalu River, on the border with North Korea, as waters rose.

Disaster agencies in the country have allocated 110,000 items of relief supplies to support emergency relocation of those affected and provide basic supplies in Liaoning, Jilin, Hunan, and Shaanxi provinces, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A man sweeps the mud off the alley following floods brought by Typhoon Gaemi, in San Mateo town, Rizal province, Philippines, July 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Lisa Marie David/Reuters

What was Typhoon Gaemi has weakened to a severe tropical storm and headed toward inland China on Friday after making landfall the previous evening on the east coast.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage. Five people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength on Thursday before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn’t strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 32, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

Gaemi waned into a severe tropical storm after coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country’s northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan.

Five people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 650 people were injured, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south, President Lai Ching-te commended the city’s efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $610 would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

At least 32 people have died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier this week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.

After three of Earth’s hottest days ever measured, the United Nations (UN) called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it “an extreme heat epidemic.”

“If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on July 25 at a news conference where he highlighted that Monday (July 22) was the hottest day on record, surpassing the mark set just a day earlier.

“Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.” Nearly half a million people a year die worldwide from heat related deaths, far more than other weather extremes such as hurricanes and this is likely an underestimate,” a new report by 10 U.N. agencies said.

“Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic — wilting under increasingly deadly heat waves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world,” Mr. Guterres said. “That’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit and halfway to boiling.” The dire warnings came after a barely noticeable respite in back-to-back record global heat.

The European climate service Copernicus calculated that Tuesday’s global average temperature was 0.01 Celsius (0.01 Fahrenheit) lower than Monday’s all-time high of 17.16 degrees Celsius (62.8 degrees Fahrenheit), which was .06 degrees Celsius hotter (0.1 degrees Fahrenheit) than on Sunday. All three days were hotter than Earth’s previous hottest day in 2023. “We are not prepared,” the U.N. report said.

Mr. Guterres urged countries of the world to adopt several proposals aimed at reducing heat deaths, starting with help to cool and care for the most vulnerable people — the poor, elderly, young and sick.

The UN also called for better heat wave warnings, expanding “passive cooling,” improved urban design, stronger protections for outside workers, as well as greater efforts to tackle human-caused climate change that’s worsening weather extremes.

But officials said most work will have to be done by countries, with the U.N. offering aid and coordination, especially when it comes to beefing up weather warning systems.

If countries adopt the United Nations heat-fighting recommendations, “these measures could protect 3.5 billion people by 2050, while slashing emissions and saving consumers $1 trillion a year,” Mr. Guterres said, citing a U.N. Environment Programme estimate.

“Better heat-health warning systems in 57 countries could save 98,314 lives per year,” the report said, based on World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization estimates.

“Crippling heat is everywhere, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally,” Mr. Guterres said. “Extreme heat amplifies inequality, inflames food insecurity and pushes people further into poverty.” More than 1,300 people died during this year’s annual Haj pilgrimage after walking in scorching heat.

Earlier this year, India’s prolonged heatwaves resulted in the deaths of at least 100 people. However, health experts say heat deaths are likely undercounted in India and potentially other countries.

Last year, the United States had its most recorded heat deaths in more than 80 years, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The death certificates of more than 2,300 people mentioned excessive heat, including 874 deaths in Arizona.

Deadly heat is not new, but scientists say it has been amplified in scale, frequency and duration with climate change.

Extreme heat, wildfires, floods, droughts and ever more fierce hurricanes are symptoms and “we need to fight the disease,” Mr. Guterres said. “The disease is the madness of incinerating our only home. The disease is the addiction to fossil fuels. The disease is climate inaction.” “Many things are being done, but too little, too late,” he said. “The problem is that climate change is running faster than all the measures that are now being put in place to fight it.” Before July 3, 2023, the hottest day measured by Copernicus was 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 13, 2016. In the last 13 months that mark has now been beaten 59 times, according to Copernicus.

Humanity is now “operating in a world that is already much warmer than it was before,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said.

“The steady drumbeat of hottest-day-ever records and near-records is concerning for three main reasons. The first is that heat is a killer. The second is that the health impacts of heat waves become much more serious when events persist. The third is that the hottest-day records this year are a surprise,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field.

Field said high temperatures usually occur during El Nino years — a natural warming of the equatorial Pacific that changes weather worldwide — but the last El Nino ended in April.

Field said these high temperatures “underscores the seriousness of the climate crisis.” “Unfortunately people are going to die and those deaths are preventable,” said Kristie Ebi, a public health and climate professor at the University of Washington. “Heat is called the silent killer for a reason. People often don’t know they’re in trouble with heat until it’s too late.” “At some point, the accumulated heat internally becomes too much, then your cells and your organs start to warm up,” Ebi said.

“The “big driver” of the current heat is greenhouse gas emissions, from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas,” Mr. Buontempo said. “Those gases help trap heat, changing the energy balance between the heat coming in from the sun and that escaping Earth, meaning the planet retains more heat energy than before,” he said.

“Other factors include the warming of the Pacific by El Nino; the sun reaching its peak cycle of activity; an undersea volcano explosion; and air with fewer heat-reflecting particles because of marine fuel pollution regulations,” experts said.

Mr. The last 13 months have all set heat records. The world’s oceans broke heat records for 15 months in a row and that water heat, along with an unusually warm Antarctica, are helping push temperatures to record level,” Mr. Buontempo said.

Singapore:

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year’s most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China’s eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world’s land area had seen a rise in “precipitation variability” or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

“(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods,” said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

“This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods.”

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behaviour of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

“I believe higher water vapour in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena,” Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan’s Nagoya University.

“In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favourable condition for tropical cyclone development,” she said.

In its “blue paper” on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapour capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rabat:

A heatwave in Morocco has killed at least 21 people in a 24-hour period in the central city of Beni Mellal, the health ministry announced on Thursday.

The meteorology department said soaring temperatures affected much of the North African country from Monday to Wednesday, reaching 48 degrees Centigrade (118 Fahrenheit) in some areas.

In Beni Mellal, “the majority of deaths involved people suffering from chronic illnesses and the elderly, with high temperatures contributing to the deterioration of their health conditions,” the regional health directorate said in a statement.

Morocco has suffered a sixth consecutive year of drought and record heat this winter, with the month of January the hottest in the country since 1940, according to the meteorology department which had recorded temperatures approaching 37C in some places.

The rising temperatures and prolonged drought, which have lowered reservoir levels, are a threat to the vital agricultural sector.

Water evaporation reached 1.5 million cubic metres per day, Water Minister Nizar Baraka said at the end of June.

Morocco’s record temperature — 50.4C — was set in August last year in Agadir, in the south of the country.

Scientists have linked climate change to more prolonged, stronger and more frequent extreme weather, including heatwaves

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Supporters of environmental group Friends of the Earth hold signs outside the Royal Courts of Justice, during their legal challenge at the High Court, in London, Britain July 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Britain failed to set proper objectives in its climate adaptation strategy, environmental campaigners argued on Tuesday in a case which relies on a landmark recent ruling by Europe’s top human rights court.

Friends of the Earth is taking legal action over Britain’s national adaptation programme, which was published last year and sets out what the government and others will do to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The programme is designed to protect citizens from the risks posed by high temperatures, coastal flooding and extreme weather.

Friends of the Earth’s lawyer David Wolfe argued in court filings that ministers had to set outcomes to address specific risks, rather than “a generic aim simply to reduce risks”.

The government’s lawyer Mark Westmoreland Smith said the environmental group’s arguments misunderstood what ministers must do and are essentially a challenge to how the government approached its duties under climate change legislation.

“The nature, ambition and framing of the objectives within the programme are matters for the judgment of the (minister), who is politically accountable for them,” he said in court documents.

Friends of the Earth’s case relies in part on the European Court of Human Rights’ April ruling that Switzerland violated its citizens’ human rights by failing to do enough to combat climate change.

But Westmoreland Smith argued the Swiss case concerned measures to mitigate the effects of climate change through a regulatory framework and was of limited relevance.

Climate campaigners have increasingly turned to the law to force governments to move more quickly on tackling emissions.

Friends of the Earth was one of three groups which successfully challenged Britain’s latest climate action plan earlier this year.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a broad climate change act that will set caps for large emitters and require every town and city to publish an adaptation plan. Image for Representation.
| Photo Credit: AP

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a broad climate change act that will set caps for large emitters and require every town and city to publish an adaptation plan.

The Climate Change Bill aims to enable South Africa to meet its emissions reduction commitments under the Paris climate agreement, the presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.

South Africa, which is the world’s most carbon-intensive major economy and among the top 15 greenhouse gas emitters, is on track to miss those targets because of to its heavy reliance on coal for electricity.

“This is very significant in that it’s the first time that our climate change response is directly brought into domestic law,” said Brandon Abdinor, a lawyer at South Africa’s Centre for Environmental Rights, a non-profit organisation.

“A lot of work needs to be done, but this act puts the basic architecture in place for that to happen.”

The presidency statement did not say when Ramaphosa had signed the law, which requires every province and municipality to assess climate change risks and develop a response plan.

Emissions targets will be set for each high-emitting government sector such as agriculture, transport and industry, and each relevant minister must adopt measures to achieve them.

The law also says the environment minister must allocate a carbon budget to large greenhouse gas-emitting companies, setting a limit on their emissions over a specified time.

The allocations have not yet been set, and the law does not make it an offence to exceed the limit although climate advocates had wanted this, said Abdinor. But emitters that exceed their budget are likely to have to pay a higher rate of carbon tax.

“With mandatory carbon budgets now in place, we expect to see significant emissions reductions from large companies,” Harald Winkler, an expert on climate policy at the University of Cape Town, said on X.

“Transparency in annual reporting will be key,” he added.

The bill is the latest sign that South Africa’s new government might be more aggressive on climate change and renewable energy than its predecessors.

The new energy minister has vowed to speed up the transition to renewables, but few specific plans have emerged. Funding plans to support the new bill are also unclear.

Western donors are offering billions of dollars in loans to fund the transition, but South African officials say they barely scratch the surface of the finance needed.

The story so far: The 2024 Union Budget, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, includes developing a taxonomy for climate finance to enhance the availability of capital for climate adaptation and mitigation.

“This will support achievement of the country’s climate commitments and green transition,” Ms. Sitharaman said in her speech.

What is taxonomy for climate finance?

Climate finance taxonomy refers to a set of standardised regulations and guidelines to inform companies and investors on making impactful investments towards environmental conservation and combating the climate crisis.

The term taxonomy originally comes from the field of biology. It is the scientific method of naming and classifying organisms, including plants, animals, and microorganisms.

According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, “diverse interpretations fragment markets and confuse investors. What seems ‘green’ in one country may appear ‘brown’ elsewhere, stalling environmental progress,”

Taxonomies for sustainable climate financing, in general, include a detailed list of economic sectors and activities and corresponding criteria that determine if it aligns with larger climate goals.

“There are two dimensions to a taxonomy: the system itself in all its complexity, and the final product (boiled down to its pragmatic essentials) as it will be used by financial market participants and other users. Users of taxonomies and definitions are not necessarily interested in understanding why a given metric or threshold must be used for an activity. Rather, they will use the taxonomies and definitions as a final product and screen activities to determine eligibility under the taxonomy,” according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Also read: Boost financing for green projects

Climate finance taxonomies are known as ‘green’ taxonomies.

Why is climate finance taxonomy important?

Climate financing forms a core area of combating the climate crisis. According to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC’s) first ‘Needs Determination Report’, financing of around $5.8-5.9 trillion is required to implement developing countries’ climate action plans by 2030, and this does not fully include adaptation costs.

Climate finance taxonomies can facilitate financing for investors, credit institutions etc. based on how climate-aligned an entity or an activity is. It can therefore direct financial resources towards projects that support climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Green taxonomies help investors compare investment opportunities and measure their environmental impact.  A localised climate finance taxonomy can also help align a country’s climate goals with the Paris Agreement and other international climate commitments while accounting for regional factors that influence localised transition pathways.

For example, different regions will have to adopt different pathways to reach the goal of limiting global warming to under 1.5 degrees C, as required under the Paris Agreement. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work here, and where localised taxonomies on climate finance can help. Science-based targets at the regional level can help define metrics, based on which experts can develop standards and investors can determine their financial commitments, all without compromising on global climate goals.

Climate finance taxonomies can also help prevent greenwashing by companies by setting common standards based on scientific assessments.

“The development of a taxonomy for climate finance is crucial for establishing clear standards. It ensures that investments are transparently and efficiently directed towards genuine green projects, driving innovation and supporting India’s ambitious climate goals,” Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, told The Hindu.

Many countries like China, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka have already issued green taxonomies to facilitate climate-sensitive investments.

Editorial | Towards a green growth: On the RBI and a green taxonomy

What has India done to set up a green taxonomy?

In January 2021, India established a task force on sustainable finance under the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, to create a framework for sustainable finance in India, establish the pillars for a sustainable finance roadmap, suggest draft taxonomy of sustainable activities, and create a framework of risk assessment by the financial sector.

In April that year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) joined the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as a member. RBI is also a member of a task force on climate-related financial risks set up by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and the International Platform on Sustainable Finance.

Why does India need a green taxonomy?

According to the IFC, India needs an estimated $10.1 trillion to achieve net-zero by 2070. Public investments alone can’t match this goal, which calls for standardisation in investments.

“A green taxonomy framework could significantly help India attract both domestic and international investments, aligning these funds with its national and global commitments to a green transition and enhanced climate resilience,” Mr. Singh said.

“Investors and industry have been demanding a taxonomy and transition pathway as guidance for flow of finance and reorientation of economic activity. The Budget announcements that clearly mention the establishment of a carbon market, taxonomy and transition pathways mark significant progress in planning towards net zero in 2070,” Suranjali Tandon, an associate professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said.

An offshore oil rig platform is photographed in Huntington Beach, California, U.S. July 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

From forest fires to hurricanes and other natural disasters: climate change risk is increasingly influencing oil prices, just as the world is struggling to shift away from high-polluting fossil fuels.

Hurricane Beryl became the latest weather phenomenon to jangle market nerves, boosting crude prices as it passed through Texas earlier this month.

Texas accounts for some 42% of total US crude oil production, according to Energy Information Administration data. It also possesses the largest number of crude oil refineries among US states.

“Almost half of the total US petroleum refining capacity is located along the Gulf, with Texas accounting for one-third of total US refining capacity,” Exinity analyst Han Tan told AFP.

And industry experts fear Beryl could herald a “super charged” hurricane season this year, according to Tan.

The World Meteorological Organization has warned that Beryl’s early formation and swift intensification could foreshadow similarly severe storms in the future.

Earlier this year meanwhile, oil market sentiment was jarred in May as forest fires broke out in Canada.

Traders took flight as out-of-control wildfires threatened to spread to the crude-producing hub of Fort McMurray, the nation’s largest oil sands mining facility.

‘More visible and more extreme’

Traders, more used to pricing in geopolitical turmoil, are now also weighing up the risks arising from the climate crisis.

“Climate change and its effect is a major source of risk in the oil markets, and I expect that that risk will only increase in the coming years as the effects of climate change become more visible and extreme,” Rystad Energy analyst Jorge Leon told AFP.

“Geopolitical risk is — at least partly — manageable by different actors. For example, international diplomacy could prevent a war.

“However, climate risk is less manageable in the short and medium run. In the long run, you can manage it by trying to reduce emissions,” he added.

At the same time, climate disruption is also having an increasingly visible impact on the operations of oil and gas companies, which are frequently slammed by environmentalists over their role in global warming.

“Climate change has been and will be affecting production,” summarised Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Oil Associates.

He added that it also impacted refinery utilisation rates because “hot weather leads to malfunctioning” of the facilities.

Many European refineries were designed in the 1960s and 1970s to withstand colder rather than warmer temperatures, according to Tan.

Fossil fuels — coal, gas and oil — are responsible for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to estimates from the United Nations.

At the COP28 UN climate conference in Dubai last December, almost 200 countries agreed to a call for a transition away from fossil fuels and a tripling of renewable energy capacity this decade.

However, the text crucially stopped short of a direct call for phasing out fossil fuels, while there were major concessions to the oil and gas industry and producer countries.

‘Economics can’t find solution’

Analysts argue that the oil market participants are simply focused on generating profit rather than saving the environment.

That throws the onus onto the world’s politicians and regulators, they add.

“Investors can’t be rationally expected to reverse the phenomenon when they try to maximise profits,” SwissQuote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP.

“Unless financial costs of climate damages outweigh the financial benefits, the economics can’t find the solution to the climate problem.”

“So, the ball is in politicians’ hands. Only concrete, sharp and worldwide regulatory changes with meaningful financial impact/incentives… could shift capital toward clean and sustainable energies.”

A driver sleeps inside his auto rickshaw parked in the the shade of a tree as the city continues to be gripped by a heat wave, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. A monthslong heat wave across swathes of India has killed more than 100 people and led to over 40,000 suspected cases of heat stroke in the last three and a half months, a Health Ministry official said Thursday.
| Photo Credit: AP

Months of scorching temperatures sometimes over 50 degrees C in parts of India this year — its worst heat wave in over a decade — left hundreds dead or ill. But the official number of deaths listed in government reports barely scratches the surface of the true toll and that’s affecting future preparations for similar swelters, according to public health experts.

India now has a bit of respite from the intense heat, and a different set of extreme weather problems as monsoon rain lashes the northeast, but for months the extreme heat took a toll on large swaths of the country, particularly in northern India, where government officials reported at least 110 heat-related deaths.

Public health experts say the true number of heat-related deaths is likely in the thousands but because heat is often not listed as a reason on a death certificate many heat deaths don’t get counted in official figures. The worry, they say, is that undercounting the deaths means the heat wave problem isn’t as prioritized as it should be, and officials are missing out on ways to prepare their residents for the scorching temperatures.

All of India’s warmest years on record have been in the last decade. Studies by public health experts found that up to 1,116 people have died every year between 2008 and 2019 due to heat.

As part of his work in public health, Srinath Reddy, the founder of the Public Health Foundation of India, has advised state governments on how to factor in heat when recording deaths.

He found that as a result of “incomplete reporting, delayed reporting and misclassification of deaths,” heat-related deaths are significantly undercounted around the country. Despite national guidelines for recording deaths, many doctors — especially those in overcrowded public hospitals where resources are already strained — don’t follow it, he said.

“Most doctors just record the immediate cause of death and attribution to environmental triggers like heat are not recorded,” Reddy said. That’s because heat deaths can be classified as exertional or non-exertional: Exertional is when a person dies due to direct exposure to high temperatures and non-exertional is when young children, older people or people with pre-existing health conditions become seriously ill or sometimes die from the heat, even if indoors.

“The heatwave is the final straw for the second category of people,” said Dileep Mavalankar, former head of the Indian Institute of Public Health in Gandhinagar. “Most people dying during heat waves belong to this category but their deaths are not recorded as connected to the heat.”

Mavalankar agreed the official number of heat deaths this year is an undercount. He said there were 40,000 recorded case of heat stroke, but only 110 deaths. “This is just 0.3% of the total number of heatstroke cases recorded, but usually heat deaths should be 20 to 30% of heatstroke cases,” he said.

“We need to be counting deaths better,” Mavalankar said. “That is the only way we will know how severe the consequences of extreme heat are.”

In his former role at the Indian Institute of Public Health in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Mavalankar was instrumental in developing India’s first-ever heat action plan for the city of Ahmedabad in 2013, three years after more than 1,300 people died there during a heat wave.

The heat plan included measures like increasing access to shaded areas for outdoor workers, converting relatively cool public buildings to temporary shelters for people without homes or access to electricity and ensuring hospitals have adequate medical supplies and staff during heat waves.

In the years that followed, Mavalankar and his team studied the impact of the heat plan by counting death tolls in subsequent hot summers. Because of a lack of data on heat deaths specifically, the team looked at deaths from all causes, which spikes during heat waves, and used the number of excess deaths to determine how many deaths were likely caused by heat.

They estimate that the heat action plan had helped reduce the number of fatalities during heat waves by up to 40%.

Having that data, while imperfect, Mavalankar said, allowed the city to adequately prepare itself for extreme heat, and do more of what worked in the future.

But he said the lack of data elsewhere makes it difficult to replicate the results in Ahmedabad on a national level.

“Not reporting these deaths, sharing data, is like the Indian Meteorological Department not sharing weather data,” he said. “We can easily do this across the country but we’ve not decided that we should do it.”

The Indian government collects data on heat-related deaths through the health ministry’s National Centre for Disease Control which is then shared with the National Disaster Management Agency. The agency then shares the data as a total nationwide figure for the year, but a state by state breakdown is not publicly available.

The National Crime Records Bureau also collects heat-related death data as part of their accounting of deaths due to “forces of nature” and publishes those figures.

But there are huge discrepancies. In 2020, the last year with publicly available data on heat deaths from both official sources, the crime records bureau recorded 530 deaths from heatstroke, but the disaster agency reported just four heat-related deaths.

The Associated Press contacted India’s health ministry spokesperson, the NCDC and the NDMA to comment on the discrepancy but did not receive a response.

Getting better data can answer a whole host of questions about who is most vulnerable and how best to help them, said Bharghav Krishna, a public health expert and a fellow at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative thinktank, “especially with respect to identifying who is dying, where they’re dying, what are they doing when they’re dying.”

Krishna thinks that the data currently collected, while inadequate, can at least provide some insight for policymakers and researchers and force at least some action if its shared with the right people.

But Malavankar said the issues of data collection are more systemic, and that needs to be urgently addressed.

“We have not done a national census since 2011, not having numbers is our national weakness,” he said.