Obama: World 'met the moment' with historic climate accord

President Barack Obama on Saturday praised the "strong" and historic" accord hammered out in Paris, which he said could mark "a turning point for the world" on climate change.

"The Paris agreement establishes the enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis," the US leader said at the White House.

"It creates the mechanism, the architecture, for us to continually tackle this problem in an effective way."

Obama added: "We came together around the strong agreement the world needed. We met the moment."

The US president praised the deal as "an enduring agreement that reduces global carbon pollution and sets the world on a course to a low carbon future."

He thanked his counterpart, French President Francois Hollande for hosting the talks "with patience and resolve," as well as the nearly 200 other nations that took parts.

"Together we've shown what's possible when the world stands as one," he said, cautioning, however, that the accord is just a first step toward taming climate change which if unchecked could eventually lead to global devastation.

"Even if all the initial targets set in Paris are met, we'll only be part of the way there when it comes to reducing carbon from the atmosphere, so we cannot be complacent because of today's agreement," said Obama.

"The problem's not solved because of this accord, but make no mistake, the Paris agreement establishes the enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis."