While announcing that the U.K. had exceeded its target to reduce its carbon emissions, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne warned that global warming and its effects could reverse the progress of civilisation leading to all-out wars between nations.

Speaking to the Commons Huhne announced that the government had successfully beaten its goal to reduce emissions, cutting them by a reported 13.8 per cent. The original 10 per cent goal was announced by the Prime Minister in May last year.

Though according to Huhne the news is not all good. Speaking to the Royal United Services Institute think-tank this week, the Climate Secretary predicted that if left unchecked the U.K. will be "exposed to the shocking and alarming" affects of climate change.

The warnings come just as the government prepares for the White Paper reforms next week. The reforms will see a dramatic boost in the U.K.'s use of nuclear power and renewable energy sources.

"With luck, the UK may well escape the worst physical impacts. But in a connected world, we will be exposed to the global consequences. And they are both alarming and shocking," commented Huhne. "A changing climate will imperil food, water, and energy security. It will affect human health, trade flows, and political stability."

Huhne argued that the resultant crop failures and water shortages that would result from a hotter planet would lead to war, with nations fighting over the world's dwindling resources.

The Climate Secretary also warned that the affects of climate change could lead to an increase in immigration numbers.

"The knock-on effects will not stop at our borders... Climate change will affect our way of life - and the way we order our society. It threatens to rip out the foundations on which our security rests."

The news comes just after experts have released a paper theorising that China's high-output coal emissions could be temporarily masking the true affects of climate change.