New Delhi, April 9 -- India faces a double-edged environmental crisis: Efforts to reduce aerosol air pollution - tiny particles in the air from industrial emissions, burning fossil fuels and biomass - may accelerate atmospheric warming, leading to more frequent and intense heatwaves. This raises the risk of hotter summers and more frequent and intense heatwaves in the coming decades.

The country has warmed about half as much as other regions in the northern hemisphere, using 1951-1980 as the baseline, according to data from the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration. While the precise reasons for this anomaly remain underexplored, contributing factors could include high aerosol loads and extensive irrigation, both o...