Finland's Licensing and Supervisory Authority (LVV) ordered Google on October 6 to suspend site-preparation work at its two data center sites in Muhos and Kajaani until environmental impact assessments for both projects are complete. The projects are being built by Tuike Finland Oy, Google's Finnish subsidiary; the halt takes effect no later than October 23, and the company must respond to the regulator by October 14.
The halted work covers logging, topsoil stripping, excavation, blasting, rock crushing, earth moving, rerouting drainage ditches, and building on-site roads and storage yards. Planning, surveying, geological investigation, and reversible environmental work can continue.
Trees First, Assessment Later
The regulator's objection comes down to sequencing. Both projects launched their environmental review process in the summer of 2025, with the reports not due to be finished until around the end of 2026 — yet site work had already moved well ahead of that.
According to local media, Google has cleared about 330 hectares of forest at Muhos, with clearing at Kajaani approaching 200 hectares. In Finland, clearing forest at that scale triggers an environmental assessment requirement on its own, and breaking ground before the assessment is finished is, in LVV's view, a breach of procedure.
Sondre Ronander, Google's head of communications for Finland and Norway, told CNBC:
"We understand the concerns and have fallen short of our own high standards in this instance."
Google says it will comply with LVV's order and plans to plant about 130 hectares of trees at Muhos as a biodiversity offset. Local officials in both areas have responded relatively calmly, suggesting the pause could be used to prepare supporting infrastructure.
The Second Wave After Hamina
Seen against the rest of Google's footprint in Finland, this halt lands right at an expansion milestone.
Google bought an old paper mill in Hamina, in southeastern Finland, in 2009 and converted it into a data center cooled with Baltic Sea water — its first large Nordic facility. Over the following decade-plus, the Hamina campus was expanded repeatedly, and Finland, with its cool climate, relatively cheap power, and abundant wind generation, has been called the data center industry's "Texas of Europe" by some outlets.
Last month, Google announced at least €13 billion in AI infrastructure investment in Finland, spanning four projects — Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala — with spending concentrated in 2027-2028, its largest single European investment to date. Muhos and Kajaani, both in northern Finland, are the newly opened sites in this round.
Projects like this are sensitive to timing. Data center construction has to line up with grid connections, substations, and equipment deliveries; when early-stage earthworks slip by months, the stages that follow typically slip too. Google hasn't answered specific questions about how much this halt could delay the launch, and LVV's order itself only says "until the assessment is complete," with no deadline given.
Europe's Approvals Are Tightening
Finland's move isn't an isolated case. Data centers across Europe are facing more scrutiny at the local level, with electricity prices, water use, and forest land all becoming recurring questions in the approval process. Ireland spent years restricting new data center grid connections around Dublin, and the Netherlands has also tightened siting rules for hyperscale facilities.
The difference here is that Finland is targeting procedure, not rejecting the projects themselves. Once the environmental review is out, the projects could still move forward at their original scale. What's still unresolved is whether the assessment will call for additional compensation for the forest already cleared, and whether Google will need to adjust the planned footprint of the two sites as a result.
Sources: CNBC, CocoLoop, NordiskPost, Finland's Licensing and Supervisory Authority announcement; forest-clearing area, halt deadline and response window, and investment figures cross-checked against regulator and local media reporting.