In a final document issued after hours of wrangling, they ditched a proposed text whereby industrialised countries would consider cutting their emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 compared to their 1990 levels, diplomats said.

The goal had been spelt out in a draft statement backed by countries of the European Union but opposed by other delegations, notably Canada, Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand and Russia, they said.

The figures had been spelt out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- the world's top climate-change experts -- as an option for policymakers seeking to keep global warming to less than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.

Instead, the Vienna paper said Kyoto parties "recognised" the IPCC range and described it as providing "useful initial parameters for the overall level of ambition of further emissions reductions."

The talks took place under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

A total of 175 of the 191 UNFCCC's members are parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out at the end of 2012.

Negotiations on a successor treaty to Kyoto take place in Bali, Indonesia in December, gathering all UNFCCC members.

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