By Akshat Rathi for Quartz

After months of preparation and weeks of negotiation, world leaders have reached a climate-change deal at this year’s Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris. It is the most ambitious international agreement ever to face up to the threat of global warming, as the final text of the deal makes clear.

Here are the main points:

An aim to keep global mean temperature “well below” 2°C of that which existed before the industrial era, and to “pursue efforts” to keep it even below 1.5°C—a more ambitious target than has ever been mentioned in the wording of a climate agreement before.
A check-in every five years, to take stock of how countries are doing on their individual climate plans, which will come into effect in 2020. The first check-in will happen in 2023.
A “loss and damage” clause that will allow vulnerable countries to claim compensation for financial losses due to climate change.