North Sea Infrastructure Protection Program
The North Sea is one of world’s busiest maritime regions. The Dutch part of the North Sea encompasses an area one-and-a-half times the size of the Netherlands’ land surface area. The North Sea, which provides the Netherlands with various resources, including energy and food, is vital to the Dutch economy. To support the activities associated with these resources, the seabed contains many kilometres of gas pipelines and data and electricity cables. For wind energy alone, the government is working towards a target of 21 gigawatts of installed capacity by around 2030, which is equivalent to about 75% of the Netherlands’ current electricity consumption.
As a result of the sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the increasing threat posed by state and non-state actors alike, more attention is now being paid to North Sea infrastructure. In November 2024 an incident occurred in the Baltic Sea in which two communications cables running between Germany and Finland were damaged. According to the threat assessment drawn up by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), the Defence Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), the threat to North Sea infrastructure is increasing. The Netherlands wants to better protect this infrastructure against current and future threats. In order to secure and improve the North Sea's infrastructure, in 2023 the government established the Programme for the Protection of North Sea Infrastructure (PBNI).
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is coordinating this programme, working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth, the Ministry of Justice and Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to these government ministries, the PBNI is also collaborating with various private parties, such as the energy and telecoms industries. It is also working closely with the surrounding North Sea countries.
The programme is aimed at safeguarding the security of the North Sea’s infrastructure and preventing damage to it. The PBNI has drawn up an action plan setting out how it intends to protect the infrastructure concerned. The programme is based on the following five action categories:
- Clear governance structure
The PBNI is working to establish a clear division of tasks and responsibilities at political, operational and tactical levels. - Improving situational awareness and understanding with regard to the North Sea
Improving situational awareness and understanding of real and potential threats in the North Sea by scaling up sensor capacity, facilitating information-sharing between various parties, and jointly analysing the resulting data. - Increase resilience
Increasing resilience of infrastructure through better information exchange and measures to prevent and/or mitigate risks. - Effective crisis management
The PBNI aims to make effective preparations to respond to evolving threats and incidents involving North Sea infrastructure. - International cooperation
The Netherlands has signed a declaration of intent together with the other countries that border the North Sea. In it the signatories agree to work together closely on information exchange, best practices and joint crisis management.