On October 6, 2026, Finland’s Supervisory Agency (LVV) ordered a halt to preparatory construction at two planned Google data centre sites in Muhos and Kajaani after more than 300 hectares of forest were cleared. The agency said work at one site went ahead without a mandatory environmental impact assessment, and it ordered work that would “significantly alter the environment” to be suspended by October 23.
The work included removing trees and topsoil, building site roads and storage areas, and changing ditches. Tuike Finland, the company behind Google’s Finnish data centre projects, must explain how it intends to proceed by October 14 or face possible enforcement proceedings. Google said it had “fallen short of our own high standards in this instance” and would follow the agency’s guidance. The sites are part of Google’s planned investment of at least €13 billion (about $15 billion) in Finland in 2027 and 2028.
Source: BBC News: Finland orders halt to work on two Google data centres (October 6, 2026).
Image: Google data centre in Hamina, Finland, 2016 (file photo), by IA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.