NEARLY 200 nations adopted the first global pact to fight climate change on Saturday, calling on the world to collectively cut and then eliminate greenhouse gas pollution, but imposing no sanctions on countries that don’t.

The “Paris agreement” aims to keep global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change.

Loud applause erupted in the conference hall after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius gaveled the agreement. Some delegates wept, others embraced.

“It’s a victory for all of the planet and for future generations,” said United States Secretary of State John Kerry, adding that the pact will “prevent the worst most devastating consequences of climate change from ever happening.”

Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said: “Today, we’ve proven that it’s possible for every country to come together, hand in hand, to do its part to fight climate change.”

In the pact, the countries pledge to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100.

In practical terms, achieving that goal means the world would have to stop emitting greenhouse gases — most of which come from the burning of oil, coal and gas for energy — altogether in the next half-century, scientists said. That’s because the less we pollute, the less pollution nature absorbs.

Achieving such a reduction in emissions would involve a complete transformation of how people get energy, and many activists worry that despite the pledges, countries are not ready to make such profound, costly changes.

The deal now needs to be ratified by individual governments — at least 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions — before taking effect. It is the first pact to ask all countries to join the fight against global warming, representing a sea change in United Nations talks that previously required only wealthy nations to reduce their emissions.

“History will remember this day,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“The Paris agreement on climate change is a monumental success for the planet and its people.”

Speaking from Washington, US President Barack Obama said the climate agreement offers “the best chance to save the one planet we have.”

The deal commits countries to keeping the rise in temperatures by the year 2100 compared with pre-industrial times “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, and says they will “endeavor to limit” them even more, to 1.5 degrees.

The temperature of the planet has already warmed by about 1 degree since pre-industrial times.

Ben Strauss, a sea level researcher at Climate Central, said limiting warming to 1.5 degrees instead of 2 degrees could potentially cut in half the projected 280 million people whose houses will eventually be submerged by rising seas.

More than 180 countries have already presented plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions — a breakthrough in itself after years of stalemate — but those pledges are not enough to achieve the goals in the accord, meaning countries will need to cut much more.

“We’ve agreed to what we ought to be doing, but no one yet has agreed to go do it,” said Dennis Clare, a negotiator for the Federated States of Micronesia.

“It’s a whole lot of pomp, given the circumstances.”

The agreement sets a goal of getting global greenhouse gas emissions to start falling “as soon as possible.” They have been generally rising since the industrial revolution.

It also says rich nations should continue to provide financial support to poor countries to cope with climate change and encourages others to pitch in.

In a victory for small island nations, the agreement includes a section highlighting the losses they expect to incur from climate-related disasters that it’s too late to adapt to. However, a footnote specifies that it “does not involve or provide any basis for any liability or compensation” — a key US demand because it would let the Obama administration sign on to the deal without going through the Republican-led Senate.

The adoption of the deal was held up for nearly two hours as the US pressed successfully to change the wording on emissions targets from saying developed countries “shall” commit to reducing emissions to they “should.” Experts said that means the deal probably won’t need US congressional approval.

Nicaragua said it wouldn’t support the pact. Its envoy, Paul Oquist, said the agreement doesn’t go far enough to cut global warming and help the poor countries affected by it.

Nicaragua is one of eight participating countries that haven’t submitted emissions targets, after Venezuelan envoy Claudia Salerno said her country, which had been holding out, liked the agreement and had submitted its pledge.

Thousands of people demonstrated across Paris, saying the deal is too weak to save the planet. People held hands beneath Eiffel Tower and stretched a 2-kilometer-long banner from the Arc de Triomphe to the business district La Defense.

Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace said the accord is a good start but isn’t enough.

“Today the human race has joined in a common cause, but it’s what happens after that really matters,” he said.

“This deal alone won’t dig us out the hole we’re in.”

The accord does represent a breakthrough in climate negotiations. The UN has been working for more than two decades to persuade governments to work together to reduce the man-made emissions that scientists say are warming the planet.

The previous emissions treaty, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, included only rich countries and the US never signed on. The last climate summit, in Copenhagen in 2009, ended in failure when countries couldn’t agree on an emissions pact.

The talks were initially scheduled to end on Friday, but ran over as Western powers, tiny Pacific island nations and everyone in between haggled over the wording.

The main dispute was how to anchor the climate targets in a binding international pact, with China and other major developing countries insisting on different rules for rich and poor nations.

The deal struck a middle ground, removing a strict firewall between rich and poor nations and saying that expectations on countries to take climate action should grow as their capabilities evolve. It does not require them to do so.

Scientists who had criticized earlier drafts praised the pact for using language that means the world will have to all but stop polluting with greenhouse gases by 2070 to reach the 2-degree goal, or by 2050 to reach the 1.5-degree goal.

That’s because when emissions fall, nature compensates by absorbing less carbon dioxide, said Princeton University’s Michael Oppenheimer. Forests, oceans and soil currently absorb about half the world’s man-made carbon dioxide emissions.

“It means you have to phase out carbon dioxide,” said John Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

As well as the emissions cuts, the goal could be reached in part by increasing how much carbon dioxide is sucked out of the air by planting forests or with futuristic technology, Oppenheimer said.

French President Francois Hollande welcomed the world to a “low carbon age,” saying France is ready to cut emissions even further and increase aid to poor countries that are affected.

“The 12th of December, 2015, will remain a great date,” he said.

“In Paris, there have been many revolutions ... Today it is the most beautiful and the most peaceful revolution that has just been accomplished — a revolution for climate change.”