Japan, the US and Britain launched a political drive on the eve of the Group of Eight finance ministers’ meeting in Osaka on Friday to encourage rich countries to pay into new international funds to tackle climate change in developing nations.

Saying it was “important to get a head start” while the United Nations negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto protocol were under way, Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, ex­pressed confidence that other members of the group of leading countries would also donate money to the funds.