Delegates from nearly 200 countries have approved a draft text of a UN climate deal after four years of work.
The breakthrough was reached on December 5 at climate talks that have been taking place outside Paris.
The senior government officials signed off on the draft text, running to 42 pages, minutes before a December 5 deadline after working through the night.
The idea is that the text lays out options, ranging from a long-term goal for slowing climate change to rising climate finance for developing states, that can be resolved by ministers next week.
Many countries said the draft, the result of four years of work since the process was launched in Durban in 2011, left too many issues unresolved.
China's chief negotiator at the climate talks said that any agreement adopted in the negotiations should be legally binding in its entirety, not just parts of it.
