Finland halts Google data centre work — 300 hectares of forest cut before the review

In the AI data-centre race, the scarcest resource is turning out to be neither chips nor power but permission. On October 6, 2026, Finland's Licensing and Supervision Agency (LVV) ordered Tuike Finland, Google's Finnish subsidiary, to stop site work at two data centres under development in Muhos and Kajaani in the country's north. The problem: forest was cut and ground dug before the required environmental impact assessments (EIAs) were finished. The sites are central to the €13 billion plan Google announced in September as its largest single investment in Europe.

1. The order: what stops and what continues

Tommi Muilu, head of the LVV's environment department, said the work done so far changes the environment and has exactly the impacts an EIA is meant to assess. If the land is transformed before the assessment concludes, the assessment loses its point.

2. How much was cleared: 300 hectares, or more

Three hundred hectares is 3 square kilometres, roughly the size of Seoul's Yeouido island or about 560 American football fields. Hanna Halmeenpää, chair of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, said loggers cut nature sites that should have been preserved and asked authorities to halt the work. The sites were already legally tangled: local plans in both towns face administrative court appeals, so a building ban applies and tree felling needs separate permission. Google maintained the felling complied with the Forestry Act.

3. Google's response and the stakes

Google spokesperson Sondre Ronander said the company "fell short of" its own high standards at the site, while saying it acted in good faith under the Forestry Act, ran nature surveys and protected high-value areas. Google will follow the LVV's guidance and plant trees across 130 hectares at Muhos.

Environment and Climate Minister Sari Multala said she expects the projects to slip and called it "a serious matter" if the company and its subcontractors acted as alleged. A citizens' initiative calling for stricter rules on data centres' energy and environmental impact gathered more than 50,000 signatures in three days, enough for parliament to consider it. From 2027, the EU will rate data centres on energy and water use.

4. What remains unclear

• Assessment timeline: when the two EIAs will finish hasn't been disclosed, and work stays halted until then.
• Kajaani's cleared area: the ~200 hectares comes from a single outlet.
• Penalties: no fine has been imposed; Tuike's written response on Oct 14 is the next milestone.
• Delay to operations: Google framed the investment over 2027–2028; how far Muhos and Kajaani slip is unknown.
• Related: how AI data centres secure power is covered in "Google–Constellation 3.6 GW power deal."