Google faces anger in Finland after an estimated 250,000 trees were felled for a data centre
Finland's environmental regulator has ordered Google's local company to suspend major work at two planned data-centre sites, Muhos and Otanmäki, after forest was cleared before a mandatory environmental impact assessment was finished. The Guardian estimates about 250,000 trees were felled at Muhos alone. Google has apologised, but denies breaking the law.
Google is facing a wave of criticism in Finland after forest covering about 330 hectares was cleared near the northern town of Muhos to make way for a new data centre. According to a report published on 22 October by The Guardian, the site held an estimated quarter of a million trees before the work began; the land has since been stripped down to mud, including the topsoil. Google itself confirmed to the Finnish broadcaster Yle that forest had been felled across about 330 hectares at Muhos and just under 200 hectares at Otanmäki, a village in the municipality of Kajaani.
The two sites are part of a €13 billion investment in AI infrastructure in Finland that Google announced in September and called its largest single investment in Europe. The company already runs a data centre in Hamina, on Finland's southern coast. The new projects are being carried out by Tuike Finland, the company that represents Google in the country.
On 6 October, the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) told Tuike Finland to suspend all environmentally significant preparatory work at Muhos and Kajaani until the mandatory environmental impact assessments (EIA) are complete. "Extensive preparatory measures have already been taken in the project areas," said Tommi Muilu, head of the agency's environmental department, listing the removal of trees, the stripping of topsoil, new site roads and changes to ditches. The order does not cover planning, measurements or soil surveys.
Whether the felling was illegal is still disputed. The Guardian and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (SLL) describe it as illegal, and law professors quoted by Yle said they suspect the law was broken. Google denies any unlawful conduct and says the trees were cut in line with Finland's Forest Act. No court or authority has yet ruled that a crime was committed; the LVV order concerns the missing assessment.
Local anger has spread beyond conservationists. An SLL ecologist estimates that another 150,000 trees were felled at Otanmäki. Residents told The Guardian that brown water from the Muhos site is running into a stream that feeds the Oulujoki river. In Otanmäki, one resident, Anni Ranta, said wolves came into the village after the trees were felled because wild animals had left the forest. That is her account; it has not been confirmed by wildlife authorities.
More than 93,000 people have signed a petition calling for stricter rules on data centres and compensation for local communities. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, whose government courted the investment, has called what happened in Muhos a "cold shower", and the environment ministry says it is ready to propose changes to the law if needed.
Google's Finland country manager, Antti Järvinen, apologised for the clearings but said the company had acted "on the best understanding we had of the legislation at the time". In a statement, Google said it had "fallen short of our own high standards in this instance", that it stopped preparatory work at both sites after receiving the LVV letters, and that it will "fully comply" with the agency's requests. The company also says it plans to replant trees on 130 hectares at Muhos, a figure conservationists call far too small.