Should Ireland continue in its current "business as usual" mould, it will fail to meet its obligations under the UN Kyoto agreement to curtail greenhouse gases.
Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors of the economy must be achieved if the Republic is to reach the target levels it is committed to within the allowed time-frame under the agreement, the EPA concludes.
Climate change - the result of global warming triggered by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - will impact on Ireland in the form of enhanced agricultural production.
But this positive effect will be countered by drying of peatlands, increased incidence of serious winter storms and flooding, lower summer flows in rivers and higher sea levels around the coast.
A "significant contributor" to national emissions of greenhouse gases is the production of cement, which is a growing industry in Ireland. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. But in Ireland the major sources of greenhouse gases are methane and nitrous dioxide, chiefly arising from agricultural production.