India and South Asia launch Heat and Health Hub for climate resilience

India and the broader South Asia region launched a new South Asia Heat and Health Hub to strengthen regional coordination on extreme-heat preparedness, data sharing and climate-resilient healthcare. The platform elevates heat as an ESG risk and supports heat action plans relevant to Indian businesses and public-health systems.

India and the broader South Asia region launched a new South Asia Heat and Health Hub to strengthen regional coordination and response to extreme-heat events intensified by climate change. The hub brings together governments, research institutions and public-health agencies to improve preparedness, data sharing and policy implementation on heat-related risks. It will act as a centralised platform supporting evidence-based decision-making, enhancing early-warning systems and promoting climate-resilient healthcare infrastructure. The launch responds to rising temperatures, prolonged heatwaves and increasing health vulnerabilities across the region.

The hub affects governments, public-health agencies and healthcare providers across South Asia, including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, which have reported higher incidences of heat-related illness, mortality and economic disruption. It will support designing heat action plans, improving surveillance systems and deploying targeted interventions in high-risk regions, prioritising capacity building, training and policy guidance for local authorities. For businesses, it elevates heat as a critical ESG issue at the intersection of environmental risk and social impact, particularly in densely populated, climate-sensitive areas where operational and workforce resilience is increasingly material.

Governments and local authorities should engage the hub for technical support, training and policy guidance to design heat action plans and strengthen forecasting and surveillance systems. Healthcare providers should adopt the standardised practices the hub promotes across the region. Businesses should integrate climate adaptation into ESG strategies, ensuring resilience at systemic and operational levels as extreme heat grows more frequent, and prepare for emerging climate-disclosure and risk-management frameworks. Investors should watch for ESG-aligned opportunities in climate-resilient public-health infrastructure that the coordinated regional effort is expected to drive.

Key figure — New platform: South Asia Heat and Health Hub