Finland Orders Google to Stop Clearing Forest for Two Data Centers

Google called its Finnish buildout the largest single investment it has ever made in Europe. One month after announcing it, the company has been told to put down the chainsaws. On October 6, Finland's Licensing and Supervision Agency, known by its Finnish initials LVV, ordered Tuike Finland Oy, the subsidiary that represents Google in the country, to suspend preparatory work at its planned data center sites in Muhos and Kajaani until the legally required environmental impact assessments for both projects are complete.

The order, published in an LVV press release, takes effect immediately and no later than October 23. Tuike has until October 14 to submit a written explanation and say whether it intends to comply. If it does not, the agency said it is considering administrative compulsion under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, backed if necessary by conditional fines.

What the regulator says already happened

The legal problem is sequence. Finnish law requires an environmental impact assessment, or YVA, for projects of this size, and the point of the procedure is to inform decisions before the ground is changed. LVV says that is not what happened. In its release, the agency said that, based on current information, extensive preparatory work has already been carried out at both sites: trees removed, topsoil stripped, work roads and storage areas built, ditches and culverts altered, and stormwater arrangements put in place. Work of that scale, it argued, could undermine the assessment's purpose of weighing alternatives before key steps are taken.

The suspension covers tree removal, topsoil stripping, excavation, blasting, crushing, ditching and road building. It does not cover planning, surveys, soil investigations or minor work that is easily reversed. Both YVA procedures are still underway, with the assessment reports expected during 2026, according to LVV. The agency began gathering information on September 18, when it asked Tuike, the Muhos municipality, the City of Kajaani and their building control authorities for details.

Xinhua, via The Star, reported that tree clearing at the sites began in March, with earthmoving and infrastructure work following later.

The 200-hectare line

The numbers at Muhos are the core of the case. Helsingin Sanomat, as summarized by the regional paper Kaleva, reported that 330 hectares were logged there. Under Finnish law, an environmental assessment is required for continuous clearing above 200 hectares where the trees are permanently removed.

According to that reporting, Tuike knew the threshold was an issue. In a letter dated April 30, the company asked LVV for a case-by-case determination of whether an assessment was needed, citing a report by the consultancy Ramboll that argued none was required at that early stage because the felled timber would not be sold. Kaleva noted that wood from the area has in fact been sold. Tuike learned in May that an assessment was required, the paper reported, and logging on the site continued until August. Tuike has said its clearing at Kajaani was under 200 hectares.

Hanna Halmeenpää, chair of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, told AFP that "nature sites which should be preserved" had been logged across an area of more than 300 hectares.

Google's defense has been that it followed the Forestry Act. Finnish authorities have pointed out that environmental assessment obligations sit under separate legislation, Xinhua reported. Climate and Environment Minister Sari Multala went further, telling Helsingin Sanomat, as quoted by Euronews, that "this is a serious matter: all companies operating in Finland must comply with the law." She also said the projects would likely be delayed.

Google concedes, mostly

Google did not fight the framing. "We understand the concerns and have fallen short of our own high standards in this instance," spokesman Sondre Ronander said, according to Euronews. He said the company would review LVV's findings and follow its guidance, and that it had acted in good faith and carried out environmental surveys. Google says it is advancing landscaping and biodiversity plans, including tree planting across 130 hectares at Muhos, Al Jazeera reported.

The admission is notable for a company whose data center expansion now depends on local permission in a growing number of countries. Conceding a shortfall costs little if the projects proceed after the assessments. Contesting the order would have put a national regulator, a sitting minister and a conservation lobby on the other side of a multi-year build.

Why Finland matters to Google's compute plans

The stakes are large. On September 9, Google formally announced a 13 billion euro investment in Finnish digital infrastructure over two years, covering new data centers in Muhos, Kajaani and Vaala and an expansion of its existing campus in Hamina. Al Jazeera and Xinhua both reported that Google describes it as its largest single investment in Europe.

Power is the other reason the Nordics attract hyperscalers, and it is also the source of a parallel political fight. Al Jazeera reported that Google has a 22-year agreement to buy up to half the output of the Loviisa nuclear plant, a deal that extends the plant's expected operating life from 2030 to 2050. At the same time, opposition parties called last month for a national permit system for data centers to head off power shortages and rising electricity prices. Centre Party leader Antti Kaikkonen said Finland must ensure enough generation and transmission capacity for the facilities.

None of this kills the projects. The order is a pause pending paperwork that was already in progress, and LVV said it prefers voluntary correction to enforcement. But it resets the timeline for two of Google's four Finnish sites, and it gives every municipality weighing a data center bid a concrete example of what happens when a developer treats the forestry rules as the only rules. The next date to watch is October 14, when Tuike has to explain itself in writing.