An Agreement of Cooperation was concluded in 2008 on the setting up of an Energy Security Centre amongst the Hungarian Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economy and Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Office for Research and Technology and the Prime Minister's Office. This paper summarizes the. findings for the setting up of the Centre and creating the necessary conditions required for its operation. The main idea is that qualitatively new conditions to facilitate effective problem solving to meet the demands of mankind for energy are needed. The key part of this work is the creation of the structures of a global problem solving network. It will function as a network of energy security knowledge centres ( KC). A number of KC with different specialisation will be built on these structures, resulting in a global network with new synergies, which will in return foster the development of new capabilities and the emergence of new way of thinking. The paper discusses the results related to the application of a global approach to energy security and points out the necessity of regarding energy security and environmental protection as integral parts of the system. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.