The world's first comprehensive climate treaty has passed the thresholds needed to come into legal force, the UN climate body has said.

The Paris Agreement, which commits countries to cut greenhouse gases to avoid dangerous climate change, comes into effect 30 days after it has been ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for 55% of the world's emissions.

It has now been ratified by 72 countries representing 56.75% of the world's emissions and will enter into force less than a year after it was negotiated in the French capital - much sooner than the planned 2020 start date.

Major emitters including China, the US and India had already signed up to the deal, while the European Parliament voted earlier this week to ratify in a move that guaranteed it would come into effect before the next climate talks in November.

The deal commits countries to take action to keep global temperature rises to "well below" 2C above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C to protect the most vulnerable countries.

It also sets a goal for emissions to peak as quickly as possible and decline to what will effectively be net zero by the second-half of the century, a system to review and ramp up action on tackling greenhouse gases and financial support for poorer countries.

The news the Paris Agreement would enter into force was widely welcomed, and there were calls for countries and businesses to act quickly to cut emissions.

Nigel Topping, chief executive of the We Mean Business coalition of companies acting on climate change, said: "The Paris Agreement could go down in history as the most impactful multi-lateral treaty of all time.

"By acting with unprecedented speed to bring the agreement into force, the world's governments have given global business a powerful signal to drive investment, innovation and growth in the zero carbon economy.

"This signal will only get stronger over the next four years as countries respond to technology trends and corporate action in revising their national plans as required by the agreement"

Jill Duggan, Director of The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group, said: "The significance of the Paris Agreement and its universal impact cannot be underestimated.

"The transition to a zero carbon economy is inevitable. Now is the time for companies to start preparing for a zero carbon future."

But Oxfam's Climate Policy Lead Tracy Carty warned: "The Paris Agreement's credibility test starts today.

"Each and every country has pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, but our world is still on track to warm up to 3C or more, much higher than the agreement's stated goal of 1.5C.

"Countries will need to quickly and aggressively cut their greenhouse gas emissions further.

"Oxfam estimates that only a fraction of the money that rich countries are spending on climate change is reaching the most vulnerable communities that desperately need it most.

"Figuring out how to close this gap and strengthen the resilience of these communities should be high on the list of priorities ahead of November's United Nations climate change conference in Morocco."