Indian cities in 2025 face a new climate reality. Beyond familiar hazards like heatwaves and floods, systemic risks are reshaping urban growth, infrastructure stability, and finance. Migration driven by climate stress, cascading infrastructure failures, and a vast adaptation finance gap define this evolving challenge. Addressing these interconnected issues is crucial for resilient urban futures.
Climate-Induced Migration and Urban Growth
Climate stressors such as drought and coastal flooding are forcing millions to move within India. Cities attract migrants seeking jobs and services despite risks. Migration is often seen as a crisis, but it can drive urban resilience and economic diversification if planned well. Without foresight, migrants settle in vulnerable informal settlements, increasing exposure to hazards.
Cascading Infrastructure Failures
Climate change causes compound risks rather than isolated events. Urban systems like power, water, transport, and communication are interdependent. Failure in one system can trigger widespread breakdowns. For example, cooling system failures during heatwaves raise mortality sharply. Flooding now combines river overflow, heavy rain, and tides, overwhelming defences designed for single hazards.
Need for Integrated Adaptation Planning
Current risk management is fragmented and inadequate. Future adaptation requires designing interconnected urban systems with redundancy. Combining green infrastructure like wetlands with grey infrastructure such as seawalls enhances resilience. Health, housing, and climate policies must align with urban drainage and flood management strategies. This integrated approach reduces vulnerability.
Finance Gap and Fiscal Reforms
Adaptation finance is far below needs. In 2022, only $28 billion of international public finance targeted adaptation, while developing countries require up to $366 billion annually. Indian cities alone need $2.4 trillion by 2050 to climate-proof infrastructure. The 16th Finance Commission can mainstream climate risk into fiscal transfers by adopting a dynamic climate vulnerability criterion. This would ensure predictable funding for climate-exposed cities beyond disaster relief.
Policy Recommendations and Institutional Change
Research suggests adjusting fiscal devolution formulas to include a 5 per cent climate-risk weight. This would prioritise states facing heat, floods, and low adaptive capacity. Such reforms strengthen rule-based support and encourage long-term resilience investments. Urban adaptation must move beyond short-term rebuilding to systemic transformation aligned with political cycles.
India’s Urban Climate Reality in 2025
Cities like Delhi, Punjab, Bengaluru, and Mumbai exemplify the growing urban climate challenge. Simultaneous heat and flood emergencies show infrastructure fragility and finance shortfalls. Without rapid adaptation, climate impacts will deepen inequality and systemic risks. However, India’s urban transition also offers a model for resilience in the Global South.
Questions for UPSC:
- Discuss in the light of climate change how urban migration affects infrastructure and social equity in Indian cities.
- Critically examine the role of integrated green and grey infrastructure in enhancing urban climate resilience with suitable examples.
- Explain the challenges of financing climate adaptation in developing countries and how fiscal reforms can address these gaps.
- With suitable examples, discuss the concept of cascading risks in urban systems and their implications for disaster management policies.
