Extreme heat is emerging as one of the most urgent and fast-growing climate risks facing India. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense, and prolonged, especially in rapidly growing urban and peri-urban areas, placing mounting pressure on public health systems, productivity, infrastructure, electricity demand and economic stability.
For Maharashtra, the risk is especially acute due to the state’s scale of urbanisation, large vulnerable workforce, high exposure in cities and industrial corridors, and rising cooling demand. Without proactive action, the state risks locking into cooling pathways that are inefficient, costly, and emissions-intensive, further straining power systems and widening inequities for communities that need cooling the most but have the least access.
This plenary brings together senior political leadership, national institutions, and global partners to position sustainable cooling and heat resilience as a core pillar of climate adaptation and development planning. It will highlight Beat the Heat, a COP30–UNEP Cool Coalition flagship implementation drive enabling cities globally to collaborate and accelerate action and showcase Maharashtra’s growing portfolio of initiatives under the BeCool project.
