← External Forces: Climate & Resource (all topics)
Heat stress & cooling demand
What it is
Rising average and peak temperatures raise electricity demand for cooling, cut outdoor labour productivity, damage standing crops and shorten the shelf life of perishables. India's peak power demand has repeatedly set records in summer months
Cooling degree days are increasing across most of the country
Impact on industries
- The clearest structural demand driver for air conditioning, refrigeration, cold chain and the compressors, copper and refrigerants beneath them
- Raises peak power demand and therefore the value of firm capacity, storage and grid strengthening, since the peak arrives on summer evenings
- Cuts construction, mining and agricultural labour productivity in the hottest months, which lengthens project timelines and raises cost
- Heat damages crop and livestock yields and raises perishable wastage, so rural incomes, food inflation and cold chain gaps all worsen together