Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region

The aim of this assessment report is to describe the physical science basis of regional climate change over the Indian subcontinent and adjoining areas. The first chapter briefly introduces global climate change, sets the regional context, and synthesizes the key points from the subsequent chapters. Apart from GHGs, emissions of anthropogenic aerosols over the northern Hemisphere have substantially increased during the last few decades, and their impacts on the regional climate are also assessed.

Chapters 2–11 of the report assess changes in several aspects of regional climate and their drivers, viz., temperature, precipitation, GHGs, atmospheric aerosols and trace gases, droughts and floods, synoptic systems, tropical cyclones and extreme storms, Indian Ocean warming and sea-level rise, and the Himalayan cryosphere.

While impacts and policy lie beyond the scope of this report, Chapter 12 closes this report with a brief outline of the potential implications of climate change for the country’s natural ecosystems, water resources, agriculture, infrastructure, environment, and public health, along with some policy-relevant messages towards realizing India’s sustainable development goals by mitigating these risks.