Heatwaves in Europe. Lessons from India?

Issue 393: This week, the focus is on the miserable heatwave many of us experienced over the past few days in Europe. I was experiencing it in Oxford, UK, and, in a very painful way, I learned that this city was not at all well-prepared for extreme heat. So I reached out to Delhi, India, and asked: What are you learning about heatwaves that Europe needs to hear ASAP?

Also this week: Israel's recognized the genocide of Armenians, an alternative Pride march took place in Mexico City, South Africa's anti-migration protests are heating up, Mexico's unofficially poor ambassador is officially rich, the biggest movie in South Korea this year is about a king you've (likely) never heard of, and so much more.

This newsletter has been edited by Jonathan Ramsay.

What is India still learning about extreme heat? I talked to a climate policy expert in Delhi

What happened:
Last week, Oxford felt strangely unprepared for the heatwave. Quick reminder: I'm here as one of the Journalist Fellows at the Reuters Institute for the Trinity Term. The first sign of how unprepared Oxford was, was an email from my accommodation after the UK issued a red (emergency response) heat warning: 'drink water, stay indoors during the hottest hours, and close your curtains.' It was sensible advice, but almost all of it put the responsibility on us as individuals.

What we did: Before the heatwave started, my co-fellows at the Reuters Institute and I moved our classes online. Our group chat became a hub for 'places with air conditioning' tips. While some people I knew escaped to rivers and shopping centers, they couldn't escape the nights; they were the hardest. At least, for me they were. I quickly discovered that British buildings are designed to keep heat in and that they have very little airflow. My room barely cooled down as the temperature dropped. More often than not, it felt like it was hotter inside than outside.

Across Europe, I kept seeing the same response online: people were asking for more air conditioners. As someone from Kurdistan, I am very much used to having air conditioning in private homes. However, I also know how hot it gets the moment you step out onto a balcony where the AC unit is running. I don't think that is the long-term answer. So, what then? The whole week made me wonder whether we were looking for answers in the wrong places. I decided to speak to someone whose country has been dealing with extreme heat for much longer than Europe has. I spoke to Rohit Magotra, Deputy Director at the Delhi-based think tank IRADe, where he leads research on climate change and cities.

For more than a decade, he has worked with Indian city governments to develop heat action plans, map urban heat islands, and identify which neighbourhoods are most vulnerable to extreme heat. I asked him a simple question: What have you learned?

Tell me more:
I edited our conversation for brevity and clarity.

Map vulnerability, not just temperature. One idea Rohit returned to repeatedly was that cities shouldn't only ask where it's hottest, but where people are most vulnerable. He described how his team combines urban heat maps with information on housing quality, drinking water, electricity, healthcare and social infrastructure. The goal is to understand why a neighbourhood is vulnerable, so governments can respond more precisely. He also stressed that vulnerability changes over time. Someone may develop a chronic illness, lose a partner, or begin living alone. Heat plans, he argued, should account for those changes.

Heat is actually an indoor problem. Heat wasn't only affecting outdoor workers. Rohit said his team's household surveys found that women spending much of the day indoors were often experiencing severe heat stress because of small homes, poor ventilation, and roofs exposed to the sun. Improving indoor thermal comfort through better ventilation and housing, he argued, deserves much more attention. Science says that most heat-related deaths happen indoors.

Every neighborhood needs a different solution. Rather than recommending one city-wide response, Rohit argued that interventions should depend on what is making each neighbourhood vulnerable. In some places, that meant improving water access. In others, it meant temporary health camps because hospitals were too far away. At busy transport hubs, it meant shaded waiting areas with drinking water and oral rehydration salts. "The idea," he told me, "is to identify the factor causing the vulnerability."

Don't solve heat only with air conditioning. Rohit believes air conditioning is an important short-term tool, but not a long-term strategy on its own. For example, this study in Lyon, France says air conditioners make cities hotter. Rohit says the same thing: air conditioners release waste heat back into the streets, contributing to higher urban temperatures. Instead, he argued that cities should invest more in passive cooling, including better ventilation, shade, trees, cooler buildings, and public cooling spaces.

Heat adaptation is really governance. When I asked which Indian city was doing this best, Rohit didn't name one. Instead, he argued that implementation often depends less on the plan itself than on whether local governments are willing to act. He pointed to Delhi as an example. According to him, discussions around heat adaptation had been happening for years, but implementation accelerated only after the city formally adopted a heat action plan and political attention increased.

Other things that stuck with me

• Evidence changed minds. Rohit said city officials initially treated heatwaves as a seasonal inconvenience. What changed was showing them decades of data: more heatwave days, hotter nights and rising mortality once temperatures crossed certain thresholds. In one city, officials lowered their heat warning threshold almost immediately after seeing the evidence.
• Cooling centres don't have to be complicated. Delhi has started opening public cooling zones with drinking water, fans, seating, first aid, and oral rehydration salts (ORS), particularly for people spending long hours outdoors.
• Schools are using "water bells." Some schools now ring a bell every 45 to 60 minutes reminding children to drink water, whether they feel thirsty or not. The idea is to build the habit before dehydration becomes a problem.
• Early warning systems are only useful if people know what to do. India has weather warnings up...