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.