India's centrality to global mitigation efforts makes it an important point of inquiry in studies of climate governance. However, we understand little of how climate change has been institutionalized in India's decision-making processes. We capture the emergence and decline of climate institutions over three decades, showing how political conditions have shaped institutional form. The politics of opportunism has animated institutional development. It resolves the tension between India's global leadership ambitions and a deeply entrenched, equity-focused narrative frame that rejects incurring large mitigation costs. Climate institutions have therefore been layered upon existing bodies and processes to create room for the organic, bottom-up growth of policies that meet development objectives while promoting mitigation. While this structure limits polarization around climate action, it also inhibits strategic intent, particularly because strong cross-governmental institutions have been unable to take root.

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Institutions can affect coordination, consensus, and strategy

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Extreme heat poses an unprecedented challenge to health and productivity in India. Heatwaves (prolonged periods of extreme heat) have increased in frequency in recent decades due to climate change. Landmark heatwaves (1998, 2002, 2010, 2015, 2022) have each led to large death tolls (according to government estimates) and extensive economic damage by reducing labour productivity and affecting water availability, agriculture and energy systems. Governments across India at the state, district and municipal levels have responded by creating heat action plans (HAPs), which prescribe a variety of preparatory activities and post-heatwave response measures across government departments to decrease the impact of heatwaves. These documents are meant to be iterated upon and refined over time.