Europe · Business news · AI & Tech · 06 Oct 2026
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The Finnish Supervisory Agency told Google's subsidiary Tuike Finland to stop work that alters the environment at its planned data centre sites in Muhos and Kajaani until the environmental impact assessments are finished, with October 23 as the latest date to comply. Tree felling, excavation, blasting, soil removal, drainage and building of site roads are barred; planning, measurements and easily reversed work may continue. The agency found trees cleared and topsoil removed at both sites. Google said it would comply, conceded it had fallen short of its own standards and plans to replant 130 hectares at Muhos.
The two sites are part of Google's 13 billion euro data centre investment in Finland, so the order puts a regulatory pause on a slice of Alphabet's AI and cloud building programme; the report gives no estimate of the delay or its cost. Those who wait with it are the contractors, electrical and cooling equipment suppliers and power companies lined up for the projects. The case also shows that in the Nordic countries, which attract data centres for cheap power and cool air, permitting can stop preparatory work that developers elsewhere start before approvals are complete.
Reported by Helsinki Times — “Google ordered to halt data centre works in Finland over environmental concerns” ↗ on 06 Oct 2026.
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