By Ninad Shroff, SEWA Bharat, India

Extreme Heat and Informal Workers

Projections indicate that extreme heat events in India will increase in severity and duration (Pillai et al., 2025). Heat stress is linked to complex social impacts like increased morbidity and reduced labour productivity (Sharma et al., 2024). Informal workers – such as street vendors and agricultural and construction labourers – are especially vulnerable to heat due to the outdoor nature of their work, lack of social protection, and inadequate access to essential infrastructure and services like water supply, sanitation, and drainage.

82% of the women working in India are part of the informal economy (Jenkins & Kalsi, 2025). Due to high degrees of informality and social marginalisation, they experience heightened risk, and are increasingly facing heavy losses to health, productivity, and income due to extreme temperatures. For example, waste segregation workers reported it is too hot and dangerous to work in two out of the four summer months, while home-based workers reported their homes are becoming unbearably hot to work in as they are cramped and poorly ventilated (Jenkins & Kalsi, 2025). Women are not only more vulnerable to the physical effects of heat than men, but also often bear a greater share of caregiving duties related to heat-induced illnesses (Sharma et al., 2024).

SEWA Bharat’s Work on Building Climate Resilience

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Bharat is a federation of women-led institutions providing economic and social support to women in the informal economy. It has worked extensively in Bihar, where 31 out of 38 districts fall within the top 25% of the most vulnerable districts nationwide (Sharma et al., 2024). SEWA Bharat has observed that while these communities are highly aware of the impacts of climate-change, they lack knowledge of its scientific basis.

As a pilot project, SEWA Bharat is working with informal women workers to build climate resilience in four towns in Bihar, where the majority of residents do not have access to toilets and adequate water supply, and live in poorly-constructed homes. Primary strategies include increasing the community’s awareness to engage meaningfully in local climate action; building collective agency to enable them to advocate for their own needs; and improving access to social protection and basic infrastructure. SEWA Bharat will liaison between informal women communities and urban local bodies to strengthen effective climate-change adaptation, and form multi-stakeholder committees comprising local actors – like a Town Climate Committee – to plan for long-term climate resilience by creating climate action plans. Financial strategies like municipal green budgeting will also be devised, along with early warning systems and training on heat-related health impacts. Other interventions like urban greening and waterbody restoration, building cooling shelters, cool roofing, and climate-resilient agriculture, will also be explored.

Way Forward

SEWA Bharat’s approach has revealed that growing heat risks require an inclusive, multi-stakeholder, participatory planning process to foster systemic risk reduction. Capacity-building of local governments is essential to tackle the climate crisis, along with localised, community-driven adaptation solutions. The most vulnerable communities must be at the forefront, leading the change, and not be left behind.

References:

1. Jenkins, O., & Kalsi, K. (2025). Informal economy women workers on the frontline of the climate crisis: Insights from over 1,100 women working in India’s informal economy. Social Development Direct and SEWA Bharat. https://drive.google.com/file/d/11G1rDh_C_NpcUOoJJi_BQSZ1Xy20Biyb/view
2. Pillai, A., Dalal, T., Kukreti, I., Kassinis, A., Zeppetello, L., Tewari, E., & Dubash, N. (2025). Is India Ready for a Warming World? [How Heat Resilience Measures Are Being Implemented for 11% of India’s Urban Population in Some of Its Most At-Risk Cities]. Sustainable Futures Collaborative. https://www.sustainablefutures.org/publication/is-india-ready-for-a-warming-world-how-heat-resilience-measures-are-being-implemented-for-11-of-indias-urban-population-in-some-of-its-most-at-risk-cities/
3. Sharma, S., Pandey, S., & Krishna, K. (2024). Building Climate Resilience of Small Cities in Bihar: Scoping Study Report. SEWA Bharat.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AIDMI.