I've got two letters for you, India. Are you listening?

Addressing climate inequality becomes a big political deal for New Delhi

The two letters are A-C, as in air conditioning.

From an industry projection:

The global stock of air conditioners in buildings is expected to increase to 5.13 billion by 2050, up from 1.6 billion in 2022, which amounts to 10 new ACs sold every second for the next 30 years.

Around the world, access to and ownership of air conditioning systems is a classic sign of middle-class status. As a rule, the truly poor do without and suffer what they will, but the middle class has just enough money to make it happen, and boy, do they want to make it happen. Once you get a middle class of any size and that demand begins to spread, AC goes from being a luxury item to something closer to a human right. And THEN your poor start to consider it a necessity and begin agitating on that basis.

This is where India stands now and it’ll become a huge priority for the government over time as climate change continues to make life across the subcontinent that much steamier. Already we have news stories where citizens of New Delhi are being quoted as saying “it’s a matter of survival.” Earlier this year WAPO had a story about an angry AC-less mob in Kolkata basically storming a luxury mall that had … air conditioning. They weren’t there to loot or riot or escape the zombie apocalypse — just to feel cooler for a stretch.