Professor Kevin Anderson said the true scale of cuts needed were “mind-blowing” and Ireland had just two years left before overshooting the target.
Prof Anderson is an expert in energy and climate change at the universities of Manchester, Bergen and Uppsala.
His warning comes before a High Court hearing tomorrow in which environmental and human-rights campaigners accuse the State of failing to meet its climate-action commitments.
Prof Anderson said Ireland should be cutting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most common greenhouse gas, by 30pc annually to be in line with the global goal of keeping temperature rise from exceeding 1.5C.
Deep cuts in methane from agriculture were…