A study by EfD researchers Saudamini Das and E. Somanathan found that high temperatures cause significant income losses and health problems for informal sector workers, such as street vendors and rickshaw drivers. Learning about the magnitude of the problem was an eye-opener for policymakers. However, many of the solutions for mitigating the problem are inexpensive and easily scalable.
It is well known that heat harms productivity in formal manufacturing. However, the informal sector comprises 82% of the labor force in low and lower-middle-income countries. Not much was known about how they are affected by the rising temperatures.
Lost 40% during heatwaves
The research team studied about 400 workers living in informal settlements in Delhi for one month in the summer of 2019. They found that the workers had a 19 percent decrease in net earnings for every degree Celsius increase in wet-bulb temperature (a measure that combines dry air temperature with humidity to measure the heat-stress conditions). During the two heat waves in the study period, the earnings dropped as much as 40%. The researchers also found a 14% increase in medical expenses per degree of temperature rise, reaching 25% on heatwave days. The study underscores the urgent need for heat resilience measures for informal workers, a group highly vulnerable to climate change.
“The most important finding was the magnitude of the problem, that is, how much they are affected by a rise in temperature,” says Saudamini Das, professor at the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), Delhi, and EfD domestic associate researcher.
Disseminated findings broadly
Delhi has been experiencing increasingly severe and prolonged heat waves in recent years, which aggravates the problem. The summer of 2024 broke heat records, with daytime temperatures exceeding 49° C.
“Cities, especially slum areas, are especially vulnerable to rising temperatures,” says Saudamini Das.
The original plan was to make a follow-up survey the next year, but then COVID-19 came. And in 2021, they gave up on the idea of a follow-up and started analyzing the data. They presented their findings at several research conferences before finalizing the paper Heat causes large earnings losses for informal-sector workers in India, which was published in Environmental Research in October 2024.
Workshop with high-level representatives
The researchers have taken several steps to disseminate their findings, for instance, with a report for WHO, news articles in media, a policy brief, and sharing the report on social media. Most important, however, was a workshop conducted in collaboration between EfD India (CECFEE) and the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG). In addition to presenting the results from this study, other researchers presented studies on adaptation strategies, which provided a solid ground for action-oriented discussions.
Representatives from the Delhi Development Authority, the National Disaster Management Authority, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and the Centre for Social and Economic Progress participated in constructive panel discussions.
Informs policy
“The fascinating aspect was that the research could help us quantify the loss in earnings caused by each centigrade rise in heat, as well as increased health problems, remarked Mr. Safi Ahsan Rizvi, Advisor of the National Disaster Management Authority of the Government of India.
“As a result of the discussions with stakeholders and the researchers, the Government of India has included heat in its official list of hazards. This means that heat mitigation programs qualify for financing from the Finance Commission funds, which are substantial. Further, NDMA has also finalized a Heat Framework, based on the key deduction of this paper, that the incomes of the vulnerable are deeply impacted by heat,” he added.
Feasible interventions
“Those officials were all very keen to learn about the research and what can be done to mitigate the problem and wanted to have a list of recommended actions,” said Saudamini Das.
Some suggested solutions are to develop the government of India’s ongoing in-situ slum development program of constructing multi-story buildings for slum dwellers in their existing slum area. Such buildings should also have improved standards that take climate change into account, like good ventilation, water taps, and water coolers, as well as expanding night shelters with cooling facilities like fans, coolers, and cold water in urban areas. Some solutions are quite inexpensive and easy to scale up quickly, such as cool roofs (through a certain paint), insulating walls with agro-bio panels made from crop residues, providing cross-ventilation, and adding green areas that, of course, also come with social and other benefits. Other examples are health interventions, such as setting up clinics and subsidizing medicine. Awareness campaigns in slum areas can also be valuable.
Results can be applied broadly
“Our results can easily be translated to other contexts, such as many African countries,” noted Saudamini Das.
According to World Bank data, 1,9 billion people work in the informal sector.
By: Petra Hansson.