Energy saving sceptics will be targeted by a new government advertising campaign depicting the damaging effects climate change will have on Britain.

The £6 million advertising campaign seeks to educate the 52 per cent of the population who mistakenly think that global warming will not significantly affect them.

Only one-third of people surveyed thought that climate change will have an impact on them, while more than one-tenth (14 per cent) felt it would have no effect on Britain, even during their grandchildren's lifetime.

In an attempt to shock people into realising the damage global warming could cause, the hard-hitting advertising campaign will show a British town under water, with people and animals drowning.

Joan Ruddock, the energy and climate change minister, said: "The survey results show that people don't realise that climate change is already under way and could have severe consequences."

A recent World Bank study predicted that adapting to climate change will cost developing countries $75-100 billion (£46-63 billion) a year between 2010 and 2050.