CLIMATE change threatens to undermine the last 50 years of advances in medical health, scientists have warned as they published a major report.

The authors, from University College London and the University of Cambridge, called for major policy changes to cut pollution including phasing out coalfired plants and investing in green cities, energy and transport.

Without major change, climate change could be “sufficient to trigger a discontinuity in the long-term progression of humanity,” they say.

In the report, published in The Lancet, the authors argue that the risk to human health posed by climate change has been widely underestimated and that flooding, droughts and heatwaves are likely to have a much greater impact.

Current predictions by the World Health Organisation suggest that 250,000 people a year could die worldwide by 2030 as a direct result of climate change but they do not take into account factors such as an ageing population, food shortages or the displacement of people.

“Climate change has the potential to reverse the health gains from economic development that have been made in recent decades – not just through the direct effects on health but through indirect means such as increased migration and reduced social mobility,” said Prof Anthony Costello, director of the UCL Institute for Global Health.

The report calls on governments to insulate more homes and buildings to cut energy use and to bring in carbon pricing to push up the price of high carbon goods and services to make people change their behaviour, while boosting investment in low-carbon technologies.

An estimated one trillion dollars (£630billion) would be needed each year up to 2050 to tackle climate emissions from energy, on top of the 105 trillion dollars (£66 trillion) which would be required anyway for the energy system.

The report comes ahead of key United Nations talks in Paris in December on securing a new global climate treaty.