Europe’s struggle to cope with record temperatures serves as a warning about the vulnerabilities of infrastructure not designed for extreme heat. In India, where heatwaves are growing longer and more severe, there is an urgent need to move beyond reactive measures and adopt long-term, systemic approaches to climate adaptation.
Published: June 25, 2026, 11:41 PM IST
Share Article
https://www.india.com/news/india/what-lessons-can-india-learn-from-europes-response-to-heat-related-health-emergencies-and-urban-planning-challenges-8457571/
People cover themselves with scarves and take a shade under the umbrella to protect themselves from the heatwave in New Delhi. ANI
India and the world are witnessing one of the hottest summers in several years, with temperatures rising to nearly 50 degrees Celsius in May alone this year. While the rest of the world, especially Europe, has several frameworks like the EURO-HEAT project to tackle the rising heat in the region, India lacks similar frameworks.
Notably, Europe’s struggle with extreme heat highlights the risks of relying on infrastructure built for cooler weather conditions, while India, grappling with increasingly prolonged heatwaves, needs to move beyond reactive responses and invest in lasting architectural and systemic adaptations. However, India’s heatwaves are worsened by rapid urbanisation and the Urban Heat Island effect.
Here are some lessons that India can learn from Europe’s response to heat:
Comprehensive Eight-Element Framework
The Comprehensive Eight-Element Framework (often referred to as the Eight Core Elements of Heat-Health Action Plans) is a strategic, multidisciplinary guideline designed to minimise the health impacts of extreme heat. Developed by the WHO and adopted by disaster management bodies worldwide, the framework identifies key adaptation and mitigation strategies that can be implemented over the short, medium and long term.
The eight elements include
- A lead body for coordination
- Timely alert systems
- Health information plans
- Reduction in indoor heat exposure
- Care for vulnerable groups
- Health and social care system preparedness
- Long-term urban planning
- Real-time surveillance
Indian cities fall short on long-term institutional elements
While over 250 cities and districts have successfully rolled out immediate response measures such as weather alerts, water distribution points and adjusted school schedules, progress has been far slower when it comes to long-term strategies that depend on sustained policy support and interdepartmental coordination.
Also Read | ‘Cool’ Europe reeling under severe heat wave, 18 die in France; several countries issue red heat warning
Even after implementing HAPs, Indian cities mostly fall short on long-term institutional elements, as most local authorities view heatwaves strictly as a temporary summer emergency rather than a long-term issue. This prevents heat resilience from being embedded into permanent municipal governance. Further, unlike other disasters, Heat Action Plans (HAPs) are mostly guiding policy documents rather than legally binding mandates.
How will Strengthening Intersectoral Cooperation help India in tackling heatwaves?
Strengthening intersectoral cooperation is the definitive structural fix for India’s Heat Action Plans (HAPs). It shifts heatwave management from a seasonal, short-term emergency response handled by a single disaster agency to a continuous, institutionalised mandate embedded across all sectors of governance.
Firstly, instead of merely advising citizens to keep interiors cool, cities can legally mandate climate-resilient policies; secondly, by unlocking dedicated climate finance which utilises National and State Disaster Mitigation Funds (SDMF) specifically for long-term heat prevention.
Thirdly, a data pipeline connecting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) with state health departments and primary healthcare networks will link meteorological forecasting directly to public health triggers. Thus, when IMD predicts a heat-humidity threshold breach, health departments can automatically divert IV fluids, ORS packets, and specialised medical staff to high-risk ward clinics before the heatwave peaks.
Also Read | Europe reels under severe heat wave, 7 die in France, while temperatures shatter records in Britain
Finally, instituting enforceable labour and social protections may be beneficial as well. Under this, steps such as mandatory midday shift pauses for construction and agricultural workers should be taken to ensure.
Shifting from disaster response to long-term planning
Shifting from a reactive disaster response to proactive, long-term institutional planning is the only sustainable way India can survive escalating summer temperatures. Reactive measures like distributing water packets and shifting school timings merely treat the symptoms of extreme heat; long-term structural planning cures the environmental and systemic vulnerabilities that make heatwaves deadly.
Thus, instead of advising citizens to stay indoors in homes that act as ovens, long-term planning re-engineers the built environment. These long-term plans include mandating cool roofs, green roofs, and passive ventilation designs in municipal building codes, integrating climate-resilient designs into government housing schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), ensuring low-income families are structurally protected and finally limiting hyper-concretization and regulating building heights to ensure wind corridors can naturally cool dense urban areas.
Combating the root cause while moving heat action plans (HAPs) out of the seasonal emergency cycle embeds them permanently into the administrative machinery; this is one step that may also help in the long run.
