By: Nidhi Chaurasia
Climate change is quietly reshaping the way we live and work. Whether you are a construction labourer in Nagpur braving a 45°C afternoon, a delivery rider navigating flooded lanes in Patna, or a software engineer in a Bengaluru office tower breathing recycled air during a pollution surge, the health toll of a warming urban world is rapidly becoming personal.
Organisations have begun strengthening their climate strategies through safer systems, adaptive operations, and future-ready policies. Yet a critical gap persists: employee health, both physical and mental, remains an afterthought in most climate resilience frameworks. This gap matters for businesses in India’s megacities, but it matters just as much, arguably more, for employees in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Amravati, Patna, Varanasi, or Coimbatore, where institutional capacity is lowest precisely where the health challenge is greatest.
The Scale of the Problem
In India, climate risks affect employees very differently depending on where and how they work. Outdoor workers in agriculture, construction, logistics, and gig services face direct heat exposure, while office-based employees grapple with poor air quality, sedentary strain, and rising stress levels with two distinct burdens, both driven by the same shifting climate.
The numbers are stark. Nearly 75% of India’s workforce, approximately 380 million people work in heat-exposed occupations,[1] making this one of the world’s largest populations of climate-vulnerable workers. In 2022 alone, 191 billion potential labour hours were lost to heat exposure,[1] and economic losses reached an estimated USD 159 billion in 2021.[2] The ILO projects India may lose up to 5.8% of total working hours by 2030[2],equivalent to 34 million full-time jobs.
New Delhi recorded a scorching 47.3°C on May 27, 2024. During a single heatwave in June 2024, 192 homeless people reportedly died in the city[3] — a grim reminder that when cities become heat traps, the most exposed pay first. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, where concrete and asphalt-heavy cities trap heat far above rural surroundings, continues to intensify across India. Critically, a 2024 study found that Tier 2 cities showed stronger warming due to urbanisation than larger metro cities,[3] yet they have far fewer resources to cope.
The Human Cost: Physical and Mental Health
Physical Health: Outdoors and Indoors
Extreme heat impairs decision-making, increases injury risk, and in severe cases causes heatstroke. In construction alone, heat stress drives productivity losses of 29% to 41.3%[4] depending on task type. Research shows worker output declines by an average of 2.6% for every 1°C rise above 24°C.[4]
But the burden does not end when workers step inside. Office employees face prolonged sitting, poor air circulation, and artificial cooling that contribute to musculoskeletal strain, fatigue, and reduced cognitive performance. Indoor thermal discomfort even at temperatures around 29°C, measurably impairs task execution. The contrast is telling: one worker fights the heat outside; another fights poor ergonomics and stale air inside. Both are losing ground.
Mental Health: The Invisible Toll
The psychological cost of climate change in the workplace is real and growing. Globally, 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, at a cost of USD 1 trillion annually.[5] Eco-anxiety: fear and uncertainty rooted in a changing climate, now shapes how employees sleep, concentrate, and engage at work. A landmark survey found that 75% of young people across 10 countries view their future as “frightening” because of climate change,[5] with over half reporting sadness, anxiety, and helplessness. These young people are entering the workforce now.
In workplace settings, eco-anxiety manifests as fatigue, withdrawal, and difficulty concentrating. For field workers and frontline employees who have directly experienced floods, heatwaves, or family disruption, the burden is heavier still. India’s limited mental health infrastructure with professional support virtually absent from smaller cities and informal workplaces, makes this especially urgent.
How Can Organisations Prepare?
The cost of inaction is significant and measurable. Rising health claims, reduced productivity, greater absenteeism, and growing reputational risks make climate-health integration not only a moral responsibility but a strategic necessity. Sectors like construction, logistics, retail, and real estate are already experiencing the operational consequences of extreme weather. |
Conduct a Climate Health Risk Audit
Map climate exposures like the heat days, AQI levels, flooding hotspots, against internal data such as sick leave trends and outdoor work requirements. Make it location-specific: a company with offices in both Gurugram and Nagpur is managing two very different risk profiles. Progressive employers are already integrating real-time heat-index and AQI monitoring with HR systems to trigger protective scheduling automatically.
Implement Early-Warning and Response Systems
Heat and air-quality alerts, flexible scheduling, hydration protocols, and indoor cooling plans reduce risk when backed by institutional commitment. Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan, one of the first of its kind globally, has demonstrated that targeted early-warning systems and mobile health units can reduce heat-related mortality. For indoor workplaces, auditing thermal comfort and air quality translates directly into gains in productivity and well-being.
Align with NAPCC, SAPCCs, and ESG Commitments
Organisations can embed climate-health action within CSR and ESG strategies by:
- Aligning CSR with state climate priorities – funding cooling shelters, water access, and health camps in heat-prone districts.
- Integrating workforce health into ESG reporting – formally tracking heat-related absenteeism, occupational incidents, and mental health access under the Social pillar.
- Extending protections to informal workers – offering insurance, health screenings, and climate awareness training to gig workers and contract staff.
- Co-creating pilots with government and communities – collaborating with urban local bodies to test heat-resilient workplaces and early-warning systems that can later be scaled.
Address Social and Gender Inequities
Climate vulnerabilities do not fall equally. Women, migrants, and informal workers those with the least access to cooling, housing, and healthcare bear the heaviest burdens.[6] Community-led models such as heat-stress training, cooling support kits, and shade canopies for street vendors offer replicable, low-cost solutions for climate-sensitive sectors, particularly in India’s rapidly urbanising smaller cities.
Putting People at the Centre of Climate Resilience
The cost of inaction is real: rising health claims, lost productivity, reputational risk, and talent attrition among younger employees who increasingly choose employers based on demonstrated care for worker well-being. Climate-health integration is not only a moral responsibility as it is a strategic necessity.
Simple practices make a difference: flexible scheduling during extreme weather, normalising mental health conversations, short restorative breaks, and leadership that models healthy boundaries. Climate-related stress rarely announces itself dramatically, it shows up as fatigue, distraction, and disengagement over time. Creating space for these experiences, without stigma, is where resilience begins.
Just as organisations invest in green buildings and resilient supply chains, they must invest in climate-resilient workforces. Field workers, office employees, gig riders, caregivers, everyone carrying the daily weight of a changing climate deserves to be
seen in the resilience plan. The workforce is not just a resource to protect. It is the reason the response matters at all.
Ultimately, climate adaptation must begin with the people who drive progress every day. When employees feel heard, supported, and psychologically safe, organisations are better equipped to navigate uncertainty, maintain continuity, and lead with resilience. The workforce is not just one more resource to manage through the climate crisis it is the reason the response matters at all. |
References
- https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/how-heat-stress-threatens-the-workplace-2745486-2025-06-24
- https://www.dw.com/en/heat-extreme-weather-heath-climate-change-economy/a-73
- https://idronline.org/article/climate-emergency/urban-heat-in-india-what-we-know/
- https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2025-10/Outdoor_Workers_at_Risk.pdf
- https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2024.1371737/full
- Ihttps://idronline.org/article/climate-emergency/urban-heat-in-india-what-we-know/
