Google’s subsidiary Tuike Finland Oy has been directed by Finnish authorities to temporarily cease construction activities at two planned datacentre sites in northern Finland due to incomplete environmental assessments.
The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority issued the suspension order on Tuesday, requiring the company to halt preparatory work by 23 October at the latest. The action followed revelations that Google had cleared approximately 330 hectares of forest in Muhos and nearly 200 hectares in Kajaani without completing the mandatory environmental impact assessment. These sites are part of a €13bn infrastructure project across multiple locations in the region, driven by global demand for data storage capacity.
Authority officials stated that the extensive preparatory measures—including tree removal, topsoil stripping, and road construction—constitute significant environmental changes that should have awaited completion of the environmental impact evaluation process. The assessment is expected to conclude later this year. Google was given until the following Wednesday to provide a written response to the directive. Failure to comply could result in enforcement proceedings and financial penalties.
Google acknowledged in a statement that it had “fallen short of our own high standards” and committed to studying the findings and following regulatory guidance. The company claimed it had acted in good faith under forestry regulations and conducted nature surveys, while noting plans to plant trees across 130 hectares at the Muhos site as part of broader biodiversity efforts.
Environmental advocates characterized the situation as indicative of broader systemic problems in the development sector. Representatives from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation described one site as transformed into “a sand area” rather than forest, attributing the oversight partly to the intensely competitive datacentre market that pressures companies to accelerate timelines while stretching resources in smaller municipalities.
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