Providing an overview of the state of India’s environment through numbers, this annual publication by Down to Earth (DTE) in collaboration with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) delves into what data shows about climate changes. The big take-away is that 2023 was India’s hottest year on record, with minimum temperatures peaking in December with 1.71 degrees Celsius above the norm – “a record not seen in 122 years” — and the country also experiencing extreme weather events on 318 of the 365 days. On air quality, north and east India were among the most polluted while south had the cleanest air in comparison. Together, the data shows that climate change has assumed the character of climate emergency in India.

The report mentions that a likely 60 percent of all deaths in India in 2021 were due to cardiovascular diseases, respiratory infections, tuberculosis and chronic respiratory diseases and air pollution remains the “leading risk factor for fatal diseases in 22 states and union territories”. Researchers also examined nine cities across various climate zones and found that between 2014 and 2023, 80 percent of areas in four of the nine witnessed intense summer heat – an issue that is worsened by diminishing blue-green spaces. India also recorded a 158 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 since 1994, emitting 3132 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent of GHGs. Amid this bleak scenario, the report also found that India ranked 112th among the 166 countries in the preparedness report on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a score of 63.45/100. 

The data in the report has been divided into the following categories: development, climate, extreme weather, greenhouse gas emissions, health, energy, air, cities, transport, waste, biodiversity, agriculture, water, employment which makes it easier to work with each category as well as work in an intersectional way to arrive at new understanding. This report is available for purchase here.