Climate change impact an 'irreversible reality'

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan: 'While adaptation efforts to date have reduced some climate vulnerabilities, limits are already beginning to be reached.' Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

The impacts of climate change are now an irreversible reality for every country including Ireland — there is still time to act but time is running out.

That is according to Environment Minister Eamon Ryan, who was speaking in the wake of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which found human-induced emissions had now crossed a threshold where some effects were irreversible.