Cheering envoys from 195 nations approved Saturday an historic accord in Paris, offering hope that humanity can avert catastrophic climate change and usher in an energy revolution.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a draft climate pact worked out after two weeks of talks in Paris was ambitious, balanced and if adopted would be a "historic turning point" to keeping temperature rises well below 2 degrees Celsius, while striving for a 1.5-degree limit.

While Beijingers choked and tried to find their way through the capital's smog, Chinese representatives were in Paris trying to promote the country's "green projects" at the global climate-change conference.

Some 45 million people in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin will be displaced as the cities slip under the waves when global temperatures rise 4 degrees Celsius if nothing is done to curb climate change, according to a study released on Monday.

Los Angeles-based author Chip Jacobs became well known in China for his book, Smogtown, about pollution in the Californian metropolis, which he co-authored with William Kelly.

No lectures for Xi on human rights, but a few subtle reminders

Xi Jinping made the comments hours after landing in Seattle on his first state visit in the US, when he spoke at a Washington State Welcoming Banquet.