President Michael D Higgins has called for the world to increase the urgency of its response to the "existential threat" of climate change.
He was responding to UN Secretary-General António Guterres who warned the Earth has moved into an "era of global boiling".
In a statement, President Higgins said: "We have a responsibility as Heads of State and Heads of Government to respond to Secretary-General Guterres' statement, to ignore it would be a dereliction of our duty of care to our shared planet."
"It is time for us all, as leaders and global citizens, to assess as to how words are leading to actions, to increase the urgency of our response to what is an existential threat and to achieve change," he said.
President Higgins added that he hopes Mr Guterres’ statement "is read all over the world, as it involves all of humanity".
Pope Francis expressed his concern over wildfires devastating Greece and beyond and also urged people to renew efforts to take care of the planet.
The Vatican published a telegram sent by its secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to the president of the Bishop's Conference of Greece, Petros Stefanou, conveying the Argentine pontiff's message.
"His Holiness Pope Francis is deeply concerned by the threat to life and damage caused by the widespread wildfires in various parts of Greece, and beyond, as a result of the current heatwave affecting a number of European countries," read the message.
It said the 86-year-old pope was praying for God to "bless the efforts of the firefighters and other emergency personnel" facing the natural disaster.
"It is likewise his hope that the risks to our common home, exacerbated by the present climate crisis, will spur all people to renew their efforts to care for the gift of creation, for the sake of future generations," the telegram read.
Deadly wildfires have been raging in Greece for more than a week, along with countless other fires in Italy, Croatia, Portugal and Algeria, where extreme heat has left landscapes tinder dry.
Yesterday, the World Meteorological Organization and Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service both said that July was on track to be the hottest month in recorded history.
Searing heat intensified by global warming has affected tens of millions of people in parts of Europe, Asia and North America this month.
The Vatican published a similar telegram sent on behalf of the pope to Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishop's Conference, about recent downpours and wildfires in Italy.
The pope called for "courageous and long-range efforts to confront the challenge of climate change."
Read more: Europe warming twice as fast as global average since 1989 - WMO
Meanwhile, the fight against deadly wildfires in Greece is improving, the fire service has said, warning it remained on alert as fierce winds were forecast that could rekindle blazes.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling flames on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia as well as a new front that broke out in central Greece as a heatwave has baked large parts of the Mediterranean.
Fires have also flared in Croatia, Italy and Portugal this week, and flames killed 34 in Algeria in extreme heat that has left landscapes tinder dry.
"For now we have no spreading fires, the situation is improving, but we remain on a war footing to contain the ongoing fires," a Greek fire service spokeswoman told AFP.
More than 130 people were evacuated by boat from a town in central Greece yesterday after fires caused an explosion in an ammunition warehouse.
Local media said the blaze had been contained and that residents of the town of Nea Anchialos had begun returning home, with the force of the explosion shattering windows.
Tens of thousands of residents and tourists at the height of the busy travel season have been evacuated, including the popular holiday destination Rhodes, where officials declared a state of emergency this week.
Two pilots died on Tuesday when their water-bombing plane crashed while battling a blaze in Evia, while another two people died after a fire broke out on Wednesday near the industrial zone of the port city of Volos.
For more than 10 days, Greece has sweltered under what some experts say is the longest heatwave recorded in July for decades.
As well as the four deaths, almost 123,500 acres of forest and vegetation have been burned, according to estimates by the Athens Observatory.
Temperatures, which reached 45 degrees Celsius last weekend, have begun to fall.
National weather forecaster EMY predicts they will not climb above 37C today but expects strong winds that could reach 60 kilometres per hour.
