Cheering envoys from 195 nations approved Saturday a historic accord in Paris to stop global warming, offering hope that humanity can avert catastrophic climate change and usher in an energy revolution. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius ended nearly two weeks of gruelling UN negotiations with the bang of a gavel, marking consensus among the ministers, who stood for several minutes to clap and shout their joy, with some shedding tears of relief. Watch: With historic climate accord, world marks turn from fossil fuels "I see the room, I see the reaction is positive, I hear no objection. The Paris climate accord is adopted," declared Fabius, the president of the talks. Turning to a little green hammer with which he formally gave life to the arduously crafted pact, he quipped: "It may be a small gavel but it can do big things." The post-2020 Paris Agreement ends decades-long rows between rich and poor nations over how to carry out what will be a multi-trillion-dollar campaign to cap global warming and cope with the impacts of a shifting climate. The final meeting was delayed for nearly one hour than it was scheduled on Saturday evening, as some countries had differences on the wording of "shall" and "should" in an article about roles developed and developing countries will play. China's top climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua joined the "huddle" with French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, US Secretary of State John Kerry, special climate representative Todd Stern, as well as Brazilian top negotiator to reach a final solution. Though changing "shall" to "should" will to some extent relieve the legally bindingness of developed countries' responsibilities, Xie said the UNFCCC secretary has decided it is a technical error. "Together we made a historical step," Xie later said at the closing comments after the Paris outcome was agreed. "This fair, balanced agreement is ambitious and durable. It belongs to all of us," he said. "Today's agreement will kickstart a historical change in development mode and lifestyle, in both developed and developing countries," Xie later told reporters. But he said the deal is far from a perfect one as the level of funding support from rich countries to poor nations is still not satisfactory, and the industrialised countries have failed to pledge deeper emission cuts. With this year forecast to be the hottest year on record, world leaders and scientists had said the accord was vital for capping rising temperatures and averting the most calamitous impacts from climate change. Without urgent action, they warned, mankind faced increasingly severe droughts, floods and storms, and rising seas that would engulf islands and coastal areas populated by hundreds of millions of people. "It is a victory for all of the planet and for future generations," US Secretary of State John Kerry told his fellow envoys in Le Bourget on the northern outskirts of Paris. The crux of the fight entails slashing or eliminating the use of coal, oil and gas for energy, which has largely powered prosperity since the Industrial Revolution began in the 1700s. The burning of those fossil fuels releases invisible greenhouse gases, which cause the planet to warm and disrupt Earth's delicate climate system. Ending the vicious circle requires a switch to cleaner sources, such as solar and wind, and improving energy efficiency. Some nations are also aggressively pursuing nuclear power, which does not emit greenhouse gases.