The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (
UNCED) -
or Earth Summit - in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 not only assembled an
unprecedented amount of participants, but also initiated several
processes that continue until today. The Earth Summit's
Agenda 21 plan
of action included major programme areas, such as promoting transitions
to different energy sources, increasing energy efficiency, promoting
renewable energy sources, and promoting sustainable transport systems.
Though energy did not receive its own specific chapter, energy aspects
were included in connection to other topics, especially in chapter 9
with relation to climate change, but also in chapters 14 and 16 in
relation to sustainable agriculture and biofuels.
The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was
established as the formal mechanism to follow-up on the implementation
of Agenda 21. The
CSD-9 cycle in 2000-2001 was dedicated to energy,
atmosphere and transport. This was the first time a high-level
body under the UN comprehensively discussed the entire energy agenda -
the result of the increasing recognition of the importance of energy
issues to all aspects of sustainable development. CSD-9 was also a
stepping-stone to include energy as a priority area for the 2002 World
Summit on Sustainable Development (
WSSD). Energy
was also the central issue of
CSD-14/15 in
2006-2007, in connection with sustainable development, climate change,
and air pollution.
One of the three conventions adopted in Rio was the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (
UNFCCC),
which later developed its own life. The Global Environment Facility (
GEF)
was created as a financial mechanism for the UNFCCC, supporting
developing countries to meet their obligations under the Convention.
The Millennium Summit in the year 2000
defined the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), most of which require
energy access as an indispensable prerequisite.
