In today’s rapidly warming world, climate change is not an abstract, distant issue—it manifests itself on the streets we walk, in the air we breathe, and in the infrastructure that underpins our daily lives. Yet despite the urgency of the problem, most publicly available climate data remains focused on national aggregates or global models, obscuring the hyperlocal trends that truly shape urban resilience and public health. To address this critical gap, AQI.IN is proud to introduce the world’s first City-Level Climate Change Severity Analysis platform, a pioneering digital tool that translates complex environmental data into an intuitive 0–100 severity score for individual cities.
This platform empowers urban planners, policymakers, researchers, corporate sustainability teams, NGOs, and engaged citizens with city-specific insights into climate dynamics. Our new dashboard delivers a clear, standardised metric that catalyses informed decision‑making, targeted interventions, and public awareness by harnessing historical benchmarks alongside real-time observations. This level of granularity—city by city—sets our platform apart, enabling stakeholders to understand not just that climate change is happening but precisely how it is affecting their community.
Methodology: Scientific Rigour Meets Transparency
The foundation of AQI.IN’s City-Level Climate Change Severity Analysis platform is a robust, transparent methodology designed to ensure consistency, comparability, and reproducibility. Below, we detail the four key steps in transforming raw climate and air quality data into a comprehensive, standardised severity index.
1. Selection of Core Environmental Indicators
We begin by identifying seven parameters that collectively capture the multifaceted nature of urban climate stress:
- Annual Average Temperature: Reflects long‑term warming trends, urban heat island effects, and shifts in seasonal norms.
- Total Annual Rainfall: Indicates shifts in precipitation patterns that can lead to droughts or exacerbate flood risks.
- Average Relative Humidity: Influences human comfort, agricultural productivity, and the persistence of air pollutants.
- Average Wind Speed: Signal alterations in atmospheric circulation patterns and potential extreme weather events.
- PM2.5 Air Pollution Levels: Captures the intersection of air quality degradation and climate stressors such as temperature inversions.
- Number of Heatwave Days: Quantifies the frequency of prolonged high‑temperature exposures with direct health and infrastructure impacts.
- Number of Coldwave Days: Measures anomalous cold spells that can strain energy systems and public health resources.
Each parameter was chosen for its direct linkage to climate change phenomena and their tangible effects on urban populations. By integrating air quality (PM2.5) alongside meteorological metrics, the platform underscores the inextricable link between climate stress and public health.
2. Establishing a Historical Baseline
To contextualize contemporary deviations, we analyze a 15‑year historical dataset (2010–2024) for each parameter and each city. This historical baseline serves multiple purposes:
- Normalization: It provides a city‑specific climatological “norm,” accommodating regional variability—such as inherently high-humidity coastal zones versus arid inland areas.
- Trend Detection quantifies how far current-year observations deviate from historical averages, revealing accelerating or decelerating trends.
- Data Integrity: We source data from established meteorological agencies, air‑quality monitoring stations, and internationally recognized databases to ensure both temporal consistency and spatial coverage.
3. Point-Based Deviation Scoring
We calculate each parameter’s per cent or absolute deviation of the 2025 value from its historical mean. We then assign a 3‑tier point score based on deviation magnitude:
- Low Impact (1 point): Deviation within ±10% of the historical norm (or ±0.5°C for temperature).
- Moderate Impact (2 points): Deviation between ±11% to ±25% (or ±0.5°C to ±1.0°C).
- High Impact (3 points): Deviation exceeding ±25% (or >±1.0°C).
This tiered approach balances sensitivity to meaningful changes while moderating the influence of outlier events (e.g., a single-day storm).
4. Normalization into the Severity Index
The sum of the seven parameter scores yields a raw score ranging from 7 to 21. To produce a more intuitive and standardized 0–100 severity index, we apply a linear normalization formula:
Normalization= Raw Score/3
Severity Index = (Sum of normalization for each parameter/7) × 100
The resulting index is then segmented into five categories:
- 0–20: Low
- 21–40: Moderate
- 41–60: High
- 61–80: Very High
- 81–100: Extreme
This final index enables straightforward, apples‑to‑apples comparison across cities and climates, regardless of their baseline characteristics.
Platform Features: From Data to Decisions
AQI.IN’s City-Level Climate Change Severity Analysis platform exceeds delivering a single score. It offers a suite of interactive, user-centric features that translate data into actionable intelligence:
- Dynamic Dashboards: Time‑series charts illustrating parameter trends over the past 15 years (from 2010).
- Customizable City Profiles: Detailed breakdowns of each parameter’s current value, historical average, per cent deviation, and point score.
- Comparative Analytics: Side‑by‑side city comparisons, enabling policymakers to benchmark urban resilience across regions.
These features ensure that data is visible and immediately useful for decision-makers at every level.
Benefits: Real-World Impact Across Sectors
The transformative potential of city‑level severity scoring is evident across multiple use cases:
1. Urban Planning & Infrastructure Resilience
City planners can leverage granular severity data to:
- Prioritize heat‑mitigation efforts—such as expanding urban green spaces, cool‑roof initiatives, and tree‑planting campaigns—in neighbourhoods with rising heatwave frequencies.
- Upgrade stormwater management systems in districts experiencing increased rainfall volatility or flood risk.
- Reinforce cold‑weather shelters and heating infrastructure in locales where unexpected cold snaps are seen.
By targeting investments where they are most needed, municipalities can maximise the impact of limited public funds and mitigate future repair costs.
2. Public Health Preparedness
Health departments and hospitals benefit from warning of:
- PM2.5 spikes exacerbate respiratory and cardiovascular conditions and enable health advisories, temporary school closures, and the distribution of protective masks.
- Heatwave trends elevate risks of heat stroke and dehydration, prompting hydration campaigns, the establishment of cooling centres, and adjustments to work‑hour policies.
These measures help reduce morbidity and mortality during extreme events.
3. Evidence-Based Policy Formulation
National and local governments can use the platform to:
- Align urban development policies with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), demonstrating compliance through verifiable data.
- Craft targeted climate adaptation legislation—such as mandatory green‑building codes or urban canopy requirements—grounded in the severity categories identified by the index.
Transparent methodology and open data foster trust and facilitate stakeholder buy‑in.
4. Corporate Sustainability & ESG Reporting
For businesses, particularly those in real estate, insurance, and logistics, the platform offers:
- Climate risk assessments are essential for due diligence, asset valuation, and underwriting.
- Integration of severity scores into Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures—meeting investor demands for climate‑related financial risk transparency under frameworks like the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Early adopters gain a competitive edge by demonstrating proactive climate stewardship.
5. Academic Research & Education
Researchers and universities can harness the dataset for:
- Hyperlocal studies on climate adaptation efficacy—evaluating which mitigation strategies yield the greatest benefits in high‑severity zones.
- Development of predictive models projecting future severity trajectories under different emissions and policy scenarios.
- Curriculum development in climate science, urban studies, and environmental policy, leveraging real-life data to enrich classroom learning.
The platform thus becomes a living laboratory for climate innovation.
6. Civic Engagement & Community Action
By democratizing access to localized climate intelligence, AQI.IN empowers:
- NGOs and community groups should advocate for equitable resource allocation in underserved areas experiencing extreme severity.
- Informed citizenry to make lifestyle choices—such as reducing outdoor activity during high‑pollution periods or supporting green infrastructure projects at the ballot box.
Open-access data fosters transparency and collective action.
Case Study: New Delhi in Focus
To illustrate our platform’s real‑world applicability, consider New Delhi, India, which currently holds a severity score of 57/100 (High):
- Temperature Increase: +1.01°C since 2010, signalling intensified urban heat and extended warm seasons.
- PM2.5 Concentration: +24.4% relative to the 15‑year baseline, underscoring deteriorating air quality.
- Annual Rainfall: –34.6% drop, elevating drought risk and water scarcity concerns.
- Relative Humidity is a 28.7% decrease in respiratory health and particulate dispersion.
- Heatwave Days: +2.7 days per year, intensifying heat-related health hazards.
- Wind Speed Change: +0.7km/h, suggesting altered atmospheric circulation patterns.
These metrics collectively highlight New Delhi’s urgent need for integrated climate adaptation plans, including enhanced early‑warning systems and emergency response protocols, green infrastructure expansion, and air pollution mitigation measures.
Conclusion
As climate change accelerates, the ability to detect, quantify, and respond to localized impacts is no longer optional—it is imperative. AQI.IN’s City-Level Climate Change Severity Analysis platform delivers unprecedented granularity, scientific rigour, and transparency, equipping stakeholders with the actionable intelligence needed to safeguard communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems.
Whether you are a municipal authority charting long‑term adaptation strategies, a healthcare system preparing for extreme‑weather health crises, an investor assessing climate risk, or a concerned citizen seeking clarity on local climate trends, our platform offers the data-driven foundation for decisive action.
Explore your city’s severity score today:
https://www.aqi.in/climate-change
Contact our team to learn more about API access, data partnerships, or custom analytics solutions. Let’s turn localized climate intelligence into meaningful resilience and adaptation strategies together.
“Localized climate intelligence is not an option—it’s an imperative.”
— The AQI.IN Team