To survive extreme heat, Indians' bill for air conditioning is rising

Air conditioning works by removing warm air from inside a building and pumping it outside, while bringing cool air back into the room. It's energy-intensive and polluting.

In India’s desert state of Rajasthan, where temperatures frequently reach 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), the heat can be exhausting and difficult to escape.

“Most supermarkets have air conditioning,” said Kakul Misra, a self-employed accountant. “In the shops and buildings that don’t have cooling systems, you really feel the heat.”

Indians like Misra are on the front line of the battle against rising global temperatures. The nation of 1.3 billion people is one of the most vulnerable to climate change. Heat waves kill thousands of people every decade. Ahmedabad, a city in the western state of Gujarat, lost more