Since the Stockholm Conference of 1972 the UN system has taken a leading role in promoting environmental and development issues, and more recently sustainable energy issues. A review of the past 30 or so years suggests that the results, especially for energy and emissions related matters, have been modest. The author raises questions as to whether the UN system, although easily criticised, is to blame or whether it is national governments and/or apathetic populations with their own vested interests. He concludes that failures are more at the national and individual levels, where sound and imaginative governance and responses are to be found wanting. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.