Britain faces a century of sweltering summers, with more extremes of both flooding and drought, according to the latest assessment of the impact of global warming on the UK climate. Sea level is likely to rise by 36cm by 2080 – with an outside chance of a 1-metre rise.

“The real message of these projections is that we have got to respond, we’ve got to act,” Hilary Benn, environment secretary, said on Thursday. “Climate change is the greatest challenge that we face as a world.”