Climate change education: How district-level data can boost resilience Premium

Bridging the gap between climate science and policy in India through district-level projections for informed decision-making and resilience-building.

In a rapidly warming world, climate data is not just numbers on a screen, it holds the key to survival. For decades, climate projections in India remained largely inaccessible or were too broad-scaled to drive real action at the local level. 

This gap fueled our (School of Climate Change and Sustainability at Azim Premji University) determination to lead an effort that, for the first time, provides district-level climate projections for every region in India. As the data is publicly available through a web portal, we are starting to engage with journalists, students, and citizens to communicate about this dataset and how this could be useful in thinking about local action. We have a long journey ahead, but we’re beginning to understand that this work is more than just climate science — it’s our ikigai, our true purpose.

India is a country of immense climatic diversity. From the snow-capped Himalayas to the drought-prone Deccan Plateau, from the floodplains of the Ganga to the cyclone-ravaged coasts of Odisha, no two districts experience climate change in the same way. 

Every monsoon season brings uncertainty in terms of floods in some states or droughts in others. Farmers struggle to make planting decisions, urban planners lack reliable data to develop long-term strategies for extreme weather. Without granular data, decision-making is like navigating a storm with a broken compass. 

By making district-level climate projections accessible, we are shifting from reactive disaster management to proactive resilience-building. A district in Maharashtra now has the same ability to plan for rising temperatures as a city in Europe. 

This is no longer about abstract climate policies; it is about empowering every Indian district with the knowledge to prepare for the future. This approach embodies the principles of climate data democracy to ensure that every community, regardless of its resources, has equal access to scientific insights that affect their future.

Science alone is insufficient unless it is effectively applied to benefit society, including the fight against climate change. If climate projection data is not effectively utilised, climate modeling efforts become meaningless and fail to benefit society.