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Finding the finance: a guide to identifying centrally sponsored schemes to fund heat resilience solutions

This analysis attempts to address a pressing problem at the heart of India’s plans to combat extreme heat: finance. Indian Heat Action Plans (HAPs) contain a welcome diversity of adaptation solutions spanning many sectors, but generally fail to identify viable sources of public and private finance to implement these solutions. In a previous study published in March 2023, found that only two of the 37 state, district and city heat action plans reviewed had cited specific sources of finance for at least some of their interventions. In this analysis, map heat-resilience solutions proposed across 37 Indian HAPs against interventions in India’s Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs), Central-Sector Schemes (CSs), and an Act, all implemented by states with significant financial support from the Union government. These cover areas as diverse as the creation of low-cost affordable housing, the construction of artificial water bodies, urban greening, and changing the way settlements are built, among others.