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This article examines the creation, mandate and institutional profile of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The conditions of its establishment and scope of its mandate are directly linked to the strengthening of environmental protection and the promotion of sustainable development that took place in the early 1990s. Developed countries were favorable to the creation of a fund of this type as a means of preempting other proposals for the creation of financial mechanisms during the preparations for the Rio Conference on Environment and Development. In 1991, at the time of the establishment of the GEF through its pilot phase, global environmental benefits were understood as covering four main areas: global warming and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; protection of biological diversity; protection of international waters; and protection of the ozone layer.