3 min readMumbaiFeb 18, 2026 10:15 AM IST
As Mumbai Climate Week began on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government announced that 30 cities across the state have joined Beat the Heat, a flagship programme of the COP30 Presidency and UNEP-led Cool Coalition aimed at accelerating heat resilience solutions globally.
With this, Maharashtra accounts for 30 of the 44 Indian cities that have signed up for the international initiative, which now includes over 230 cities worldwide.
Launching the programme, Environment and Climate Change Minister Pankaja Munde said the state would create a coordinated framework bringing together multiple agencies including forest, environment, rural development and municipal departments to implement cooling action plans.
“In all 30 cities, we will build a structure of convergence so that departments and local bodies work together on greening, reducing urban heat, and promoting environmentally friendly construction practices. We will act as knowledge partners and, where possible, extend financial support,” Munde said, adding that secretary level officers may oversee implementation clusters of two to three cities.
The Maharashtra cities that have signed up include Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Panvel, Pune, Nagpur, Pimpri Chinchwad, Kalyan Dombivli, Ahilyanagar, Akola, Amravati, Bhiwandi, Ichalkaranji, Dhule, Kolhapur, Latur, Nanded, Nashik, Miraj and Bhusawal, among others.
The push comes amid growing concern over extreme heat. Official records show that 15 districts in Maharashtra fall under the acute or severe heat stress category, while 10 are classified as facing extreme heat stress.
Speaking at the event, Martin Krause, Director of UNEP’s Climate Change Division, warned that heat is an underestimated climate threat. “Heat kills more people than floods, storms and earthquakes combined, but it is a silent killer,” he said. If global warming reaches 2.6 to 2.8 degrees Celsius above pre- industrial levels, he added, parts of the Indian subcontinent could face more than 150 days annually with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius.
“Cooling is not a luxury of the rich, it is a necessity,” Krause said, noting that 70 per cent of the global workforce is exposed to dangerous heat, while cooling already accounts for nearly 20 per cent of global electricity use.
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On the sidelines of the event, the state also signed an MoU to facilitate dialogue and support for the Majhi Vasundhara initiative in the energy and environmental sectors. Another agreement was signed with Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages to reduce plastic use and build a food grade recycled PET ecosystem.
