The world may have just turned the corner in the battle against climate change, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says.

The Paris agreement, which 195 nations signed over the weekend, could be the breakthrough that lets humanity avoid a loomingclimate catastrophe, Gore said here Wednesday (Dec. 16) at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The plan of action laid out by the accord, "while far from ideal, nevertheless sets in motion a process of change that gives us an excellent chance of accelerating the measures that could actually bring us to a point where we can start stabilizing the climate," Gore said.