Hyderabad, June 11 -- Hyderabad has been identified among 30 cities worldwide facing extreme heat risk, with researchers pointing to rapid urban expansion, shrinking green cover and the growing dependence on air conditioners as key drivers of the crisis.

The finding emerges from a University of Oxford study, "Moving Beyond Exposure: A Globally Comparable Framework for Heat Risk Assessment in Cities," which assessed 205 cities globally.

Among Indian cities, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Madurai carry a higher risk, while larger metropolises such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi fare relatively better.

Heat-risk score

The urban area of Hyderabad, home to roughly 77 lakh people, recorded an overall heat-risk score of 0.68 on the study's H...