We are living in pivotal times, as the world is at a critical juncture witnessing the adversity of climate change. Cities across the globe are becoming the epicentre of extreme climate events. According to Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the month of May 2024 was the warmest May on record. This comes as part of a broader trend, with the last 12 months consistently setting new warming records.

Cities are at the forefront of climate negotiation at the Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai last year. For the first time, a special day was devoted to ministerial meetings on urbanisation and climate change at the 28th Conference of Parties (COP 28).

This year, Paris, the city of love, made the news headlines for hosting the venue for 53rd Olympics marking it as the greenest games ever. Previously,  Paris has been a catalyst in shaping a new global climate agenda negotiating national emissions that calls for immediate mitigation and adaptation measures to combat the perilous impacts of anthropogenic activities and greenhouse emission.

Thus, in continuation of previous article of the two-part series this article attempts to highlight some of the best practices by subnational governments  as well as provides  policy measures to deal with climate urgency such as oppressive heatwaves.

Cities as epicentre of extreme climate events

Almost half of the population across the world are now residing in urban areas and urban centres in India are going to be home for more than 40 percent of the population by the year 2030. However, regular episodes of urban floods in monsoon, deteriorating air quality during winter, and now the emerging weather anomaly of oppressive heat waves in spring, are stark reminders that the catastrophe of climate change is no longer a distant occurrence, rather a reality that we are witnessing in our everyday urban lives.

Taking the cognisance of severity, several municipal corporations as well as other Urban Local Bodies across the Indian metropolitan areas are exploring and venturing into more comprehensive and coherent climate action strategies.

Nearly all the states across India are witnessing heatwave vulnerability and are rolling out Heat Action Plans (HAPs) to address the impact of extreme heat. Usually, HAPs include activities like creation of shaded spaces, ensuring availability of cool water in public places, distribution of simple oral solutions, and reorganising school, colleges and office working hours.

Simultaneously major metropolitan areas such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and now Chennai have now adopted Climate Action Plan’s (CAP) that encompasses multiple strategies, institutional mechanisms and collaborative approaches, involving multiple stakeholders, to establish a sustainable and resilient urban landscape that aligns with the global climate agenda and establishes an institutional mechanisms of  a climate action cell as well as fiscal measure of publishing climate budgeting at subnational level.

However, to implement such measures incur a cost that civic authorities and local bodies face difficulty to spend. Hence, there is rising  demand  by the subnational government for inclusion of heat waves as notified disasters in the Disaster Management  Act that allows  deprived state exchequer to utilise the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

Mainstreaming institutional response to climate change

The proposal of setting up a city-level climate cell under framework  Climate Action Plan’s (CAP) is a welcoming step that expands the scope of the prescribed obligatory functions of municipal corporations enlisted in the 12th schedule inserted by the 74th Constitution Amendment .

Innovative, adaptive, and equitable urban planning that prioritises the well-being of all inhabitants, not just city residents. Moreover, addressing the socio-economic disparities that leave certain communities disproportionately affected is crucial in creating resilient urban environments.

In addition, the proposed Climate Action Plan (CAP) as well as Climate Action Cell in this scenario ushers toward reinventing urban governance that adopts a de-bureaucratic approach by coordinating with relevant agencies and departments and focuses on overcoming the traditional knowledge dogmas and replacing it with an orientation towards a more efficient and professional administration that empowers citizens as consumers and provides practical solutions to the concurrent crisis of governability.

Climate resilience and innovative governance

As cities grow and urbanise, they are becoming frontline battlegrounds in the fight against climate change. Incorporating green spaces, sustainable building practices, and raising public awareness are key to mitigating extreme heat. Indian metropolises are recognizing the need for comprehensive strategies, but climate action demands a coordinated, multisectoral approach at all levels of governance.

While initiatives like city-level climate cells and the recognition of heatwaves as disasters are promising, they require sustained political will, funding, and stakeholder engagement. For India’s goal of becoming a "Viksit Bharat" (Developed India) by 2047, embracing climate resilience and innovative governance is essential for creating thriving, sustainable cities. The time to act is now.

(Dr. Ruchi Sachan is Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Miranda House, University of Delhi. She holds a PhD degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University on Climate Change, Migration and Conflict in Kenya. Ujjwal Gurdaswani is an Urban Policy Analyst with interest in promoting sustainable and inclusive cities. Views are personal. They can be contacted at ujjwalgurdaswani97@gmail.com.)