The Taoiseach has told the Dáil that the European Council will call for "an ambitious global response to climate change" at COP26 in Glasgow next month.
Micheál Martin will attend the European Council meeting in Brussels tomorrow and Friday.
World leaders will gather in Glasgow next month for the United Nations Convention of Parties (COP) on Climate Change. The aim of the meeting is to reach agreement about what needs to be done to make sure the rise in global temperature is kept to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"The EU has taken a strong position and will lead by example", he said during a debate ahead of the Brussels meeting.
He said that the council will discuss Covid-19 vaccination rates, in the context of rising infections rates, and also discuss tackling disinformation.
"Well over 800m doses have been administered" across the European Union, Mr Martin added, and thanked the people of Ireland for their efforts.
Also on the table at the council will be how best to mitigate volatile energy prices, especially for the most vulnerable.
The council will examine digital transformation, including growing cyber threats.
At an informal meeting of the council on 5 October in Solvenia , Mr Martin said, it was agreed that the EU "needs to leverage its economic power more effectively, and strengthen its capacity to act".
Putin will not attend COP 26 climate summit - Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not go to next month's UN climate summit in Glasgow, the Kremlin has said, as the UK stressed the importance of national leaders' presence.
The COP26 conference has been called humanity's "last best chance" to get devastating climate change under control.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "unfortunately Putin will not fly to Glasgow", while stressing that climate change was "one of our foreign policy's most important priorities".
Russia is currently the fourth-highest carbon emitter, and critics say the country is doing far from enough to tackle the environmental crisis.
Mr Peskov said the Russian side would be represented at the summit but details would be released at a later date.
President Putin's withdrawal comes with major question marks over the attendance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Neither have so far said they will be present. China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and India the third.
