Heatwaves have intensified over the last four decades, with average summer maximum temperatures rising by approximately 1 degree Celsius between 1981 and 2020. Heatwave hotspots have expanded by about 1.5 times between 1981–2000 and 2001–2020, shifting from the Gangetic plains and central India to large parts of peninsular, eastern, western, and southeastern India.

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Centre for Voting Opinion & Trends in Election Research (CVoter) conducted a nationally representative survey of 5,427 Indian adults to investigate current public climate change awareness, beliefs, attitudes, policy support, behaviour, and self-reported vulnerability to extreme weather events. The report, Climate change in the Indian mind, Winter 2025/2026 is based on their sixth nationally representative survey in India, conducted between December 2025 and February 2026, enabling them to track changes in public responses over time since the first study in 2011. Here are some of the findings:

• A large majority of Indians (84 percent) say they think global warming is happening
• 78 percent of Indians say the Government of India should be doing more to address global warming
• 86 percent favour the government’s commitment to reduce India’s carbon pollution to nearly zero by 2070
• 58 percent say transitioning from coal to wind and solar energy for electricity will decrease air pollution while 56 percent say doing so will increase jobs in India
• 82 percent favour banning the construction of new coal power plants, closing existing ones, and replacing them with solar and wind energy

The research is intended to contribute to both scientific and public understanding and dialogue about these issues and provide useful information for Indians working in the climate space.

The report can be found here.