Developing nations pledge to back global warming issues

A joint gathering of major developed and developing nations on Wednesday agreed that climate change was “one of the great global challenges of our time” and pledged to back a United Nations effort to conclude a new climate pact by 2009.

The major economies said they supported longterm and midterm goals for greenhouse-gas reductions, but endorsed no targets. It came a day after the Group of Eight major industrial democracies set a goal of halving heat-trapping emissions that contribute to global warming by 2050.

The U.S.-led, 17-member group issued a final statement on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in northern Japan.