As a life-threatening heat wave unravels in South Asia (SA), more than 10 groups representing at lakhs of workers across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have signed a Polluters Pay Pact, calling on governments to introduce new taxes on oil, coal and gas corporations to fund solutions and help communities worldwide.
A Greenpeace India’s qualitative research report titled ‘Ground Zero: Climate Experiences among Informal Workers in Delhi,’ released on this occasion found that street vendors suffer from immense productivity loss and health risks during peak summer months. The study noted that for every 10C rise in temperature, informal workers’ earnings can fall by up to 19%, with income losses reaching up to 40% due to unbearable midday heat and reduced business. Simultaneously, medical expenses increase by around 14% — illustrating the devastating climate-health-economic nexus. The report mentions that street vendor’s daily earnings, once averaging Rs. 1000, now fluctuate between Rs 300-1200 due to climate disruption and market instability.
Workers across South Asia observed the International Workers’ Day, in a series of simultaneous events where they wrote messages about the impacts of extreme weather and their demands on sarees, a six-yard-long unstitched cloth draped by women in South Asia. The initiative, titled ‘Sarees for Solidarity’, carries messages of workers union leaders addressing the role of oil and gas corporations and their responsibility for the climate crisis that will be taken to the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP30), scheduled to be held in Balem, Brazil.
