BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Thursday hailed a six-nation climate change pact unveiled by the United States and Australia, saying it would boost efforts to fight global warming.

"We welcome very much this agreement," Commission environment spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told journalists.
"It underlines our growing awareness of the seriousness of climate change and the need to address it."
She stressed that the countries in the pact said the agreement supported, but did not replace ,the Kyoto Protocol.
Some environmental activists have said the pact is a US attempt to create a distraction ahead of U.N. talks in November, which will focus on how to widen Kyoto to include developing countries after 2012.
The European Union is considered a leader in fighting climate change and was instrumental in getting Russia to sign the Kyoto agreement, which enabled the pact to go into force.
Helfferich said clean technology was not enough to fight global warming but was helpful nonetheless.
"We are also encouraged by this agreement because it is in line with our own efforts," she said.
The countries that have joined the new agreement are the United States, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea.