The United States on Saturday described the Cancun Agreements on fighting global warming as a " balanced and significant step forward" and pledged to work on with "our friends and partners" to keep the world focused on this urgent challenge and continue building on this progress.

"This outcome advances each of the core elements of the Copenhagen Accord," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. "They anchor the accord's mitigation pledges; build on a system of transparency, with substantial detail and content of international consultations and analysis which will provide confidence that a country's pledges are being carried out, launch a new Green Climate Fund, create a framework to reduce deforestation in developing countries, establish a technology mechanism, and set up a framework and committee to promote international cooperation and action on adaptation."

She called the Cancun Agreements a set of balanced international decisions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which represent "meaningful progress " in the global response to climate change.

She said over the last year, the United States has worked with its international partners to build on the progress achieved at the climate change conference in Copenhagen and will continue to do so in the days and months ahead.