India, Oct. 28 -- Climate change should be formally recognised and addressed as a global health emergency, say the researchers behind the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, who found in their 10th annual report that its harm to health is growing faster than the world's response.

For India, the cost is steep. Heat alone cost Indian workers an estimated $174 billion in potential earnings in 2025. That is 4.2% of GDP, more than four times the share for the world as a whole.

The researchers want the World Health Organization (WHO) to create a new instrument that would formally recognise climate change as a global health emergency. They also want health put at the centre of every climate decision, from emissions targets to climat...