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Dear readers,
Welcome to the Climate Weekly Digest by the Centre for Science and Environment’s Climate Change programme and Down to Earth.
Between January and November 2025, India recorded extreme weather events on 331 out of 334 days, an increase from 295 days in 2024 and 292 days in 2022. The latest analysis by CSE and Down to Earth reveals that in 2025, extreme weather events claimed at least 4,419 lives, affected around 17.4 million hectares of cropped land, destroyed at least 181,459 houses and killed approximately 77,189 animals. This is a sharp rise from previous years, with 3,006 deaths recorded and 1.96 million hectares of cropped land damaged in 2022.
Furthermore, extreme weather events occurred every day for nine of the eleven months analysed, an increase from six months in 2024 and five months in 2023. This indicates that extreme weather in India is now occurring across all seasons, rather than being confined to a few peak seasons—shrinking the window for what can be considered “normal weather”. For a third consecutive year, the impacts were felt across all 36 states and Union Territories. The analysis highlights that 2025 saw the greatest overall loss and damage recorded so far.
With the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) ending in Belem, Brazil, CSE Climate’s Rudrath Avinashi, attending the conference for the first time as an observer, writes on his experiences during the two-week climate summit. Avinashi reflects on how geopolitical context and power dynamics play a key role in shaping which issues gain traction during negotiations. For instance, developed countries led by the European Union (EU) championed the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, while the issue remained disconnected from developing countries’ demand for climate finance to strengthen their climate ambition.
Similarly, the proposed roadmap on the transition away from fossil fuels (TAFF) was supported by several developing and developed Parties and received significant media attention, despite not being a formal negotiation item. Avinashi explains that COPs can function as an arena for narrative contestation besides being a negotiating forum, serving as a confluence of climate science, political will, power, perception and influence. Yet, COP30 also managed to highlight the lived realities of vulnerable communities, with developing country groups demanding non-debt inducing financing mechanisms and arguing that trade protectionism hampers the Global South’s energy transition. Avinashi concludes that climate ambition must remain anchored in justice and equity, rather than top-down, one-size-fits-all targets.
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By - Upamanyu Das
Climate Change, CSE
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Year of extremes: India hit by disasters on 331 of 334 days in 2025, up from 295 in 2024 and 292 in 2022, 18 December 2025
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Equatorial Pacific shows early signals of El Niño return in 2026, 18 December 2025
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CLIMATE NEWS | SCIENCE| IMPACTS| POLITICS |
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Carbon Politics: A Video Podcast by CSE |
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