German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande jointly pledged Tuesday to do their utmost to ensure an "ambitious" UN deal to combat climate change is reached this year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande jointly pledged Tuesday to do their utmost to ensure an "ambitious" UN deal to combat climate change is reached this year.

In a joint statement after informal international talks in Berlin, the European Union's two biggest economies also urged other countries to do their part in helping achieve a global push to cut emissions.

France and Germany have "firmly decided to take all efforts to reach an ambitious, comprehensive and binding UN climate agreement by the end of this year", Merkel and Hollande said.

The informal talks took place under the "Petersberg Climate Dialogue" initiative, launched by Merkel in 2010, to prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.

Hollande has set out an ambitious goal for the Paris meeting -- an agreement to limit the rise in global temperatures linked to greenhouse gas emissions to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) from the pre-industrial age.

"As the common vision we seek to pursue with all partners in the UN, we will strive to decarbonizes fully the global economy over the course of this century," Merkel and Hollande said in their statement.

It was released ahead of both leaders addressing the Berlin talks, attended by representatives of 35 countries which began on Monday.

Germany has made climate protection a key issue of its G7 presidency this year.