by climate change, including foreseeable long-term harms, breaches the human rights obligations of Ireland. The negative impacts of climate change will increase substantially according to the extent of global average temperature rise that ultimately takes place and will disproportionately affect individuals, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations. Therefore, Ireland must act to limit its emissions of greenhouse gases in order to prevent, to the greatest extent possible, the current and future negative human rights impacts of climate change.50 55. Problematically, Ireland does not appear to be on track to meet its current commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions increased by more than six percent between 1990 and 2015. The latest projections from the Environmental Protection Agency anticipate a total increase in emissions of between eleven and twelve percent between 1990 and 2020.51 Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency concluded that “Ireland is not projected to meet 2020 emissions reduction targets and is not on the right trajectory to meet longer term EU and national emission reduction commitments.” 52 56. According to Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council, the current National Mitigation Plan will not do enough to reach the targets of the Paris Agreement or even Ireland’s own emissions targets.53 Indeed, the first key message of the Climate Change Advisory Council’s 2018 report is that “Irish greenhouse gas emissions are rising rather than falling. Ireland is completely off course in terms of achieving its 2020 and 2030 emissions reduction targets.”54 57. From a human rights perspective, it is necessary for the Government of Ireland not only to take additional actions on an urgent basis to implement its current nationally determined contribution,55 but also to seek to strengthen that contribution as part of the collective effort to meet and/or exceed the targets set out in article 2 of the Paris Agreement and ensure that global temperatures do not rise to levels that would inflict catastrophic damage on the right to life and other human rights. Conclusion 58. There is no doubt that climate change is already violating the right to life and other human rights today. In the future, these violations will expand in terms of geographic scope, severity, and the number of people affected unless effective measures are implemented in the short term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect natural carbon sinks. 59. The Government of Ireland has clear, positive, and enforceable obligations to protect against the infringement of human rights by climate change. It must reduce emissions as rapidly as possible, applying the maximum available resources. This conclusion follows from the nature of Ireland’s obligations under international human rights law and international environmental law. 50 OHCHR, “Key Messages on Human Rights and Climate Change”, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/KeyMessages_on_HR_CC.pdf, p. 1. 51 Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland). 2018. Ireland’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections, 2017-2035. https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/air/airemissions/ghgprojections20172035/EPA_2018_GHG_Emissions_Projections_Summary_Report.pdf 52 Ibid, p. i. 53 Climate Change Advisory Council. 2017. Annual Review 2017. Dublin. 54 Climate Change Advisory Council. 2018. Annual Review 2018. Dublin, p. iii. http://www.climatecouncil.ie/media/CCAC_AnnualReview2018.pdf 55 Ireland’s NDC under the Paris Agreement is via the intended nationally determined contribution submitted by the EU on behalf of the EU and its Member States, which on ratification has become the EU’s first NDC. See: http://www4.unfccc.int/ndcregistry/PublishedDocuments/European%20Union%20First/LV-03-06-EU%20INDC.pdf 13