Finland has ordered Google to suspend preparatory work at two sites planned for a €13 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure project after the company cleared an estimated 400,000 trees without completing the required environmental impact assessments.
Although Google has apologized and halted work at both sites following the intervention of Finnish authorities, the forest clearance has already taken place, leaving the environmental damage largely done.
The company cleared an estimated 250,000 trees across 330 hectares near Muhos in northern Finland and another 150,000 trees near Otanmäki, about 100 kilometers to the southeast, to make way for datacenters, the Guardian reported on Thursday.
At Muhos, Google also removed the topsoil, leaving large areas of exposed earth. Local residents have raised concerns that brown water running off the site is entering a stream connected to the Oulujoki River.
Earlier this month, Finland’s Licensing and Supervision Authority suspended preparatory work at both locations because the required environmental impact assessments had not been completed before the land was cleared.
Google’s Finland country manager apologized, saying the company had acted on what it believed was the best understanding of the legislation at the time.
The company said it stopped preparatory work at Muhos and Kajaani, near the Otanmäki site, after receiving the regulator’s letters on October 6 and subsequently submitted a formal response.
The suspension, however, does not reverse the loss of hundreds of thousands of trees or restore the cleared forest and removed topsoil.
Finland has become an increasingly attractive destination for datacenter developers because of its cool climate, abundant land and relative geological and geopolitical stability. Some 145 new facilities are at various stages of planning across the country, according to the report.
The Google sites form part of a €13 billion investment described as the largest project of its kind in the Nordic country.
But the scale of the forest clearance has raised questions about the environmental costs of datacenter expansion, the use of Finland’s renewable electricity to serve international customers and the potential impact on household energy prices.
More than 93,000 people have signed a petition calling for stricter datacenter regulation and fees to compensate communities for environmental damage.
Conservationists have criticized the scale of the clearance and questioned whether timber from the sites can be sold to wood-processing plants.
They have also stated that Finland’s regulatory system relies heavily on companies complying with the rules, while legislation has struggled to keep pace with the rapid expansion of the sector.
Residents say the consequences extend beyond the loss of woodland. In Otanmäki, one resident said wildlife has fled the cleared forest, bringing wolves into the village. Construction activity has also disrupted daily life.
A University of Helsinki computer science professor said the benefits to Finland could be limited because datacenters primarily serve international markets and generate relatively little corporate tax revenue for the country.
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