Ministers have welcomed their counterparts from G8 countries to a major conference on the environment in Derbyshire.

Environment secretary Margaret Beckett and international development secretary Hilary Benn were hosting the first session of the two-day gathering on Thursday as they sought to put climate change at the top of the international agenda.

The prime minister made the issue one of two key priorities for Britain's G8 presidency this year but it is facing resistance from the US.

"We want to ensure development policies are not just about throwing aid around," a government source said.

"We want trade and investment to take account of climate change problems that are coming along in the years ahead."

Surrounded by a "ring of steel", senior officials from the United Nations, World Bank and European Union were also attending the event at Breadsall Priory with Benn keen to get an agreement on the sustainable purchase of timber from the world's richest economies.

Britain wants to get to grips with corruption in the industry that is holding back developing economies.

As well as its long-standing objection to the Kyoto protocol on carbon emissions and climate change, Washington was understood to be ready to block this move.

A leaked memo from the US State Department ahead of the talks revealed that the idea was "unacceptable".

"US will work with Canada to hold back procurement actions and with Russia and Japan to dissuade them from supporting the UK," it said.

Campaigners accused the Bush administration of not wanting to compromise the profits of US companies in the industry.

But the State Department insisted it would allow G8 members to come to their own conclusions in the talks and that while it had concerns over the idea, the memo was not official US policy.