India is among four countries in the world with the heaviest burden of cities facing extreme heat risk, according to a new global study published in the journal Sustainable Cities and Society. The Oxford University study, which assessed 205 cities with more than one million inhabitants, found that Indian states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, along with countries including Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana, were home to the highest number of urban centres vulnerable to extreme heat.

Fourteen cities from India have been named among the 50 most vulnerable cities in the world, with Ahmedabad being the second most vulnerable city after Al Basrah in Iraq. Other cities in the list of 50 include Jaipur, Nagpur, Pune, Chennai, Madurai, Bengaluru, Kanpur, and Lucknow.

Conclusions drawn show that the effects of climate change have been unevenly distributed because over 95 percent of the most vulnerable cities in the world are found in the developing countries of South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The study highlights that heat risk cannot be assessed solely based on temperature. A city's risk profile is influenced by factors such as the level of exposure, its economic status, availability of cooling facilities, and green cover. Cities with high temperatures but weak infrastructure, such as Karachi, Faisalabad and Kaduna, recorded higher overall heat risk, while cities with stronger infrastructure, such as Bangkok and Jeddah, showed lower overall heat risk scores despite experiencing high temperatures.

“It's not simply high temperatures that count when it comes to risk; our study emphasises the need for multi-faceted global heat risk assessments that show how urban heat risk can come in many forms,” said Nethmi Jayaratne Kariyawasam, lead author of the study at the University of Oxford.

However, co-author Radhika Khosla, an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, highlighted that some adaptation measures, such as the use of air conditioning, may contribute to higher global warming. She encouraged the use of low-energy technologies, such as fans and coolers, along with passive cooling measures to improve thermal comfort without increasing emissions.

The researchers said the model can be readily adapted by governments to prioritise urban adaptation measures and can be scaled up to help assess risks and support decision-making as climate change continues to increase the risk of urban heat.