The government focus on renewable energy has not been affected by the collapse of a plan to export energy to the UK.

That is according to the Minister for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources.

A number of reasons have been offered for canceling the plan - including problems putting it in place within the proposed timeframe. It is one of the projects as part of the €3.2 billion Grid25 plan.

The announcement coincided with a call from the United Nations for a rapid switch to renewables to tackle climate change.

The report, entitled 'Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change', says "Climate policies in line with the two degrees Celsius goal need to aim for substantial emission reductions". "There is a clear message from science: To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual".

Scenarios show that to have a likely chance of limiting the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius, means lowering global greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 70% compared with 2010 by mid-century, and to near-zero by the end of this century.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says scientific literature confirms that even less ambitious temperature goals would still require similar  emission reductions.

For the report, about 1,200 scenarios from scientific literature were analysed.

Minister Pat Rabbitte told Newstalk Breakfast the renewable energy policies of the coalition have not been affected by their latest decision.