According to Reuters, Finnish police announced on Thursday that they have launched a criminal investigation into alleged violations of environmental regulations at the construction site of a planned Google data center in northern Finland.
This project is one of the investment plans announced by Alphabet's Google last month. Google intends to invest $15 billion in Finland to build artificial intelligence infrastructure, stating that this is its largest single investment in Europe.
Official authorities stated that Google's subsidiary Tuike Finland carried out deforestation and drainage operations on the proposed construction site near the town of Muhos without completing an environmental impact assessment in accordance with Finnish law.
According to previous reports by The Guardian, Google cleared approximately 330 hectares of forest, estimated to be around 250,000 trees, and carried out large-scale land clearance before the completion of the legal environmental impact assessment, even removing the topsoil.
A Google spokesperson stated that the company will fully cooperate with the police investigation and will continue to strictly ensure compliance at all of its construction sites.
"We are investigating whether the company's operations have violated the Water Resources Act and caused environmental damage," said Chief Investigator Kari Pakkainen. If convicted, the company may face fines for its legal entity. Pakkainen did not reveal whether the investigation would target specific individuals.
In a statement, the police indicated that preliminary information suggests that there are doubts about violations and management loopholes regarding drainage and water resource management at the construction site of Tuike. The police will announce interim progress in December, but the entire investigation is expected to last until 2027.
On October 6th, the Finnish regulatory authority responsible for environmental permits and assessment approvals, LVV, officially ordered Google to suspend any preparatory works that would alter the surface ecological environment on the Muhos site and another planned land area.
Pakanning stated that whether the data center project will be approved to resume work in the future depends entirely on the ruling of the regulatory authority LVV.
LVV A spokesperson stated that it is currently impossible to estimate the time required to approve and issue the relevant permits.
A Google spokesperson responded, "For over a decade, we have maintained close cooperation with the Finnish government and local communities in the field of infrastructure construction. We are currently actively responding to the inquiries from LVV and other relevant authorities."
Thanks to its cool climate, low-carbon power supply, and government support for artificial intelligence policies, Finland has become one of the main destinations for data center investments in Europe in recent years.
Finland has a land area similar to that of Germany, but its population is less than 6 million. Compared to other regions, including the United States, there is significantly less opposition to large-scale data center expansions in Finland.
The operator of Finland's national power grid, Fingrid, stated that if all the agreed-upon grid connection projects are implemented, and with the rapid expansion of AI data centers, Finland's total electricity consumption is expected to surge by as much as 40% in the coming years.
Google's investment layout in Finland includes data center facilities, supporting power grid upgrades, as well as clean energy and battery storage projects that supply power to core businesses such as Gemini, search, maps, and YouTube.
Last month, Finnish Prime Minister Petri Orpo expressed his support for Google's investment plan, stating that the agreement would provide a strong boost to the Finnish economy. At the same time, he alleviated public concerns that the project might consume excessive amounts of energy and lead to higher electricity prices for residents.
