The beleaguered climate summit slipped further from its goals on Tuesday as representatives of rich countries failed to raise the extent by which they would reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Kyoto Protocol - the current treaty to tackle global warming.

A group of environment ministers formed to sort out the issue that has been dogging the December 7-18 summit failed to reach new emission reduction targets for the post-2012 period, when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires, according to delegates who attended their closed-door meeting.