The United Nations Millennium Summit was organised at the turn of the century in order to use this remarkable point in time to focus worldwide development efforts and to improve the living conditions of the worlds poorest as soon as possible in the new millennium. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were adopted by the international community, with specific objectives to be achieved by 2015, including halving the proportion of the worldwide amount of people living on less than $1 a day.

The Monterrey Consensus which was reached during the International Conference on Financing for Development in March 2002 was an important step towards the achievement of the MDGs. Among other national and multilateral commitments, it includes the pledge of the industrialised countries to increase official development aid (ODA) to the level of 0.7% of their respective GDP as well as continued efforts towards debt relief.

In September 2005, a High Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th session of the General Assembly brought together more than 100 Heads of State and Government, and was coined the 2005 World Summit. At this summit, the Millenium Declaration and the MDGs were reaffirmed, including the commitment to the global partnership for development. The Monterey Consensus and the need for financial means were also reconfirmed, as was the implementation of Rio's Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation from WSSD in 2002.

At the occasion of the World Summit 2005, REN21 launched its issue paper Energy for Development, which explores the potential role of renewable energy in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Although energy is not explicitly mentioned in any of the MDGs, there is a growing recognition that energy services play a crucial role as a cross-cutting prerequisite for development and improved living conditions around the world.