The Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government is calling on the public to do everything in their power to curb Ireland's climate change emissions.

The call follows the publication of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The findings include:

• human influence on the climate system is clear

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• climate changes that have already occurred that have had widespread and consequential impacts on human and natural systems

• recent anthropogenic (i.e. man-made) emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history.

Minster Kelly said: "We must move as quickly as possible to a low carbon climate resilient economy. We have already started this process and must progress with haste. The extent of the challenge posed by climate change is well understood by this Government."

The extent of the challenge is reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development and the General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill, both of which were published in April of this year.

(CD/JP)