Finnish authorities have intervened in two of Google’s major data-centre projects in northern Finland, requiring environmentally significant preparatory work to stop until environmental impact assessments are completed. The dispute, involving extensive forest clearance in Muhos and Kajaani, highlights the increasingly delicate balance between Finland’s ambitions as a European hub for digital infrastructure and its stringent environmental safeguards.
Finnish authorities step in
Finland’s Licensing and Supervision Authority (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto, LVV) has instructed Google subsidiary Tuike Finland Oy to suspend preparatory work capable of significantly altering the environment at planned data-centre sites in Muhos and Kajaani. The intervention covers activities including tree removal, stripping topsoil, earthworks, changes to drainage systems and the construction of roads and storage areas, while planning, surveying and soil investigations with only minor environmental effects may continue. The suspension is to remain in place until the environmental impact assessment procedures for the two projects have been completed, with environmentally significant work required to cease immediately and no later than 23 October. The episode comes at a sensitive moment for Finland, whose combination of cool climate, relatively low-carbon electricity and political stability has made the country increasingly attractive to international technology companies.
Hundreds of hectares already cleared
The scale of the preparatory work is central to the dispute. According to information supplied to Finnish authorities, approximately 330 hectares have been cleared or prepared at Muhos, in North Ostrobothnia, while just under 200 hectares have undergone preparatory work at Kajaani-Otanmäki in the Kainuu region. At Muhos, the overall project area extends across roughly 571 hectares and plans envisage nine data-centre buildings together with cooling, electrical and other infrastructure; the Kajaani site covers around 405 hectares and is planned to contain eight data-centre buildings. Finnish law requires an environmental impact assessment for permanent changes in land use involving sufficiently extensive continuous forest areas, and Environment and Climate Minister Sari Multala had already warned that the Muhos project was likely to be delayed as authorities examined whether the work had progressed too far before the assessment process was completed. For travellers, this part of Finland lies far beyond the country’s best-known southern urban destinations and offers a gateway to the forests, lakes and open landscapes that characterise northern Finland.
Google acknowledges that standards were not met
Google has said it will comply with the Finnish authorities’ instructions and acknowledged that the situation fell short of its own standards, while maintaining that the company had acted in good faith under Finland’s Forestry Act. The company says nature surveys had been conducted and measures introduced to protect areas considered particularly valuable, while its landscaping and biodiversity plans include tree planting across approximately 130 hectares at Muhos. Tuike Finland has also argued that preparatory measures were undertaken following guidance from municipal authorities, but LVV considers the scale of the changes significant enough that their effects should be examined through the environmental impact assessment process. The authority can ultimately move towards binding enforcement measures and a conditional fine should its instructions not be followed.
A €13 billion investment in Finland
The controversy is significant because the two sites form part of a much larger Google expansion in Finland. In September 2026, the technology company announced plans to invest at least €13 billion in Finnish data-centre infrastructure during 2027 and 2028, encompassing new facilities in Muhos, Kajaani and Vaala as well as continued development of its long-established Hamina data centre in southern Finland. Google has operated at Hamina since converting a former paper mill into a data centre, and Finland’s northern climate offers a natural advantage for energy-intensive computing infrastructure because cool outside air can help reduce cooling requirements. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and cloud services is now dramatically increasing demand for such facilities across the Nordic region, placing Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark among the European locations increasingly courted by technology companies.
Northern Finland faces both opportunity and pressure
For Muhos and Kajaani, the projects potentially represent substantial investment, employment and long-term economic diversification, but their scale also creates unusually intense pressure on relatively small communities and surrounding landscapes. Kajaani’s mayor Terho Savolainen told Finnish broadcaster Yle that the preparation and permitting phase had not proceeded entirely as expected, while stressing that the authorities’ position must be taken seriously and that all procedures should be completed according to law. In Muhos, municipal officials have noted that a delay could even provide additional time to prepare for housing demand generated by the eventual construction workforce. Muhos lies close to Oulu, northern Finland’s largest city and one of the Nordic region’s established technology centres, while Kajaani sits amid the forests and lakes of Kainuu, illustrating how the expansion of the digital economy is increasingly reaching parts of the country traditionally associated with forestry, nature and outdoor tourism rather than global computing infrastructure.
Finland’s environmental safeguards become part of the story
The intervention also demonstrates an important characteristic of Finland’s approach to major investment: attracting international capital does not necessarily mean environmental procedures can be accelerated or bypassed. The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation had raised concerns about the clearing operations before the regulator intervened, arguing that environmental impacts should be assessed before irreversible changes occur. LVV has emphasised that environmental assessment exists precisely to identify significant effects and compare alternatives before projects reshape landscapes, waterways and ecosystems. That principle has particular resonance in a country where forests cover most of the land area and where nature is simultaneously an economic resource, a cornerstone of national identity and one of the main attractions drawing international visitors to activities ranging from hiking and nature experiences to winter adventures and journeys through the Finnish north.
A test case for the Nordic AI infrastructure boom
The dispute is unlikely to end Finland’s data-centre boom, but it may become an important test case for how quickly the Nordic countries can expand the physical infrastructure required by artificial intelligence while maintaining their environmental commitments. Google’s Finnish plans remain exceptionally large, and the company has indicated that it intends to follow the regulator’s instructions rather than abandon the projects. Environmental assessments for Muhos and Kajaani are expected to progress towards completion later in 2026. What happens next will therefore be watched beyond the two municipalities: the Nordic region increasingly presents itself as an attractive home for energy-intensive digital infrastructure thanks to its cooler climate, renewable and low-carbon power resources and stable institutions, yet those same countries also maintain ambitious environmental standards. In northern Finland, the collision between those two strengths has now become unusually visible.
Suggested Online Sources
BBC News — Finland halts work on Google data centres over environmental concerns
Yle — Authorities halt work around planned data centres in Muhos and Kajaani
Yle — Municipal leaders react to suspension of Google data-centre works
Yle — Google’s Muhos data-centre project likely to be delayed
Yle — Finnish authorities investigate suspected illegal logging at Google sites
The Guardian — Google told to halt work on data centres in Finland over environmental concerns
