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Outgoing US Secretary of State John Kerry used his speech at the UN COP climate talks in Marrakesh to lay down the gauntlet to incoming President Donald Trump on climate change.

History will be made today at a ceremony in New York when countries start to formally sign the Paris climate agreement, which was initially approved in December last year.

In the end, after two weeks of tortuous and exhausting negotiations in Paris, the UN agreement on climate reached on Saturday has been hailed as “historic, durable and ambitious”.

The question at COP21 in Paris this week boils down to this: Will Ministers make liars of their Heads of State? We'll know in just a few short days.

Negotiators and delegates arriving at the conference centre this morning were greeted by a giant dinosaur, dozens of international youth, and a clear message: Stop Funding Fossils, the Clock Starts Now!

All around the world, in cities, towns and villages yesterday hundreds of thousands marched for the climate on the eve of the most important UN conference on the subject that has ever taken place.

I have a strange feeling today in Paris as the UN climate negotiations open in a tense city, shrouded in clouds of terrorist attacks and early winter darkness. That strange feeling? Optimism.

In the run up to the crucial UN climate talks in Paris in December, it goes with saying that the climate sceptics and deniers will be out in force trying to scupper any meaningful potential deal.