"I am honoured to have been chosen to represent the European Parliament at the global UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December and will be the only Irish MEP to do so," Kelly said. "We received our mandate with a huge majority from the Parliament last month and we are ready to work in Paris to get our key points across."

The EU negotiating team will seek an ambitious and binding global target and wants a firm commitment from the big carbon emitters to reduce their environmental impact in order to ensure that European industries are not lost to carbon leakage.

However, Kelly warns that, while the EU wants to achieve its ambitious target, a balance must be struck to protect jobs and growth across all sectors, and particularly through agriculture and business.

"Ireland, for example, is particularly vulnerable to loss of coastal assets due to rising sea levels," he said, "along with increased precipitation and the resulting flood risks caused by global warming - all of these factors could prove costly, both socially and economically."

Kelly said the world needs to limit these temperature increases, but that "we have a challenge to do so while meeting the parallel challenges of ensuring food security and maintaining EU competitiveness."

Kelly only Irish MEP to represent EP at COP21

Seán Kelly MEP will represent the European Parliament’s Industry, Research, and Energy Committee at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris next week.