Germanwatch ranks India ninth most affected in long-term Climate Risk Index

Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index 2026, released in November 2025, ranks India ninth most affected globally over 1995–2024 from continuous extreme-weather losses. Indian corporates and policymakers face mounting pressure to integrate physical climate risk into capital allocation, supply chains and resilient infrastructure planning.

Germanwatch released the Climate Risk Index 2026 in November 2025, assessing extreme-weather impacts over three decades using data from 1995 to 2024. The report ranks India as the ninth most affected country in the long-term index, placing it among nations suffering continuous, recurring threats rather than single catastrophic events. Heavy rainfall during the 2024 monsoon caused severe flooding and landslides across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tripura, affecting more than eight million people. The index notes human-induced climate change added dangerous heat days fuelling extreme precipitation.

The findings affect India's corporate and public sectors broadly. Using purchasing power parity, the assessment shows relative economic impact on India's GDP is disproportionately high, because a dollar of loss carries greater purchasing power for an Indian farmer than in wealthier economies. Fatalities and absolute economic losses rank among the world's highest. The report stresses that poorer Global South countries bear heavier burdens due to lower coping capacities, threatening India's long-term developmental progress more critically than high-income nations facing larger absolute losses.

Businesses must integrate physical climate risks into long-term capital allocation and supply-chain strategies to mitigate disruptions, per the source. Policymakers should accelerate investments in resilient infrastructure and multi-hazard early warning systems, shifting from reactive disaster response to proactive resilience planning. India should also monitor international support mechanisms such as the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, which the report highlights for countries facing accumulating, unrecoverable losses. Addressing these systemic vulnerabilities protects economic growth and the safety of India's billion-plus population.

Key figure — India's ranking: ninth most affected country in the long-term Climate Risk Index