By Alister Doyle and Bruce Wallace for Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was among the most jubilant – and most relieved – of the leaders raising their arms on a stage on Saturday to celebrate a historic agreement on climate change.

For almost a decade, Ban, 71, has travelled the world from the glaciers of Antarctica to corporate boardrooms in New York in search of photo opportunities and allies to secure an elusive global deal to curb global warming.

He ignored that advice.

Saturday night marked a personal victory after a long, often thankless road, in stark contrast to a failed 29009 climate summit in Copenhagen when he sat glumly on the podium at a fractious all-night session as the meeting unravelled.