ST ANDREWS (Scotland) - G-20 nations fell short of reaching agreement on climate finance a month before key UN talks, while pledging on Saturday to maintain stimulus measures for a still 'uneven' global economy.

The 20 leading economies committed to work for an 'ambitious outcome' at December's vital Copenhagen climate change conference, but could not achieve their goal of agreeing how to distribute funding to poor countries to tackle the problem.

'We committed to take action to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen' where countries will seek agreement on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the communique said.

Finance ministers also said they would stick to emergency stimulus support measures despite signs that the world was emerging from a 12-month financial maelstrom.

'We are not out of the woods yet and we need to maintain the measures we have taken,' Alistair Darling, finance minister of G-20 president Britain, said.

With the world's biggest economy barely out of recession, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said there was a 'very broad consensus that growth remains the dominant policy.' Meanwhile, a proposal by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a tax on global financial transactions got a lukewarm response, with the United States offering no support. -- AFP