Google cleared 250,000 trees in Finland to build an AI data centre

Google felled some 400,000 trees in two areas of northern Finland to prepare AI data centre sites before completing the mandatory environmental impact assessments. Finland's supervisory authority, LVV, has suspended the works in Muhos and Otanmäki, and police have peine a preliminary investigation.

There is a scene that keeps repeating itself in northern Finland and that sums up the cloud business rather well: a forest disappearing, mud, rocks, exposed roots and, in the background, an excavator. In **Muhos**, in the province of Oulu, Google felled some **250,000 trees** across **330 hectares** to clear the ground for a new artificial intelligence data centre. In **Otanmäki**, near Kajaani, the figure is around **150,000 trees**. In total, more than **530 hectares** of forest were cut down without a full environmental impact assessment, according to reports published by **The Guardian** and Finland's public broadcaster **Yle**.

## Finnish authority halts the works and police investigate

Finland's Licensing and Supervisory Authority, known as **LVV**, has ordered Google to suspend all measures that significantly alter the environment in both locations. Police have launched a preliminary investigation to determine whether a crime has been committed. The company has offered a public apology.

Google's country director in Finland, **Antti Järvinen**, spoke of acting "in good faith" and "in line with its understanding of the law". When asked which authorities had been notified, he refused to give names because, he said, they did not want to discuss this publicly. The building inspector of the municipality of Muhos told the newspaper **Helsingin Sanomat** that Google's lawyers pressured him to grant the permits for the preparatory works. Järvinen denies this.

The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation has described what peine as "pure arrogance". It points out that protected areas have been felled and that, because it was done without the necessary permits, the timber cannot even be sold to processing companies.

## Wolves in the village and murky streams

The damage does not stop at the landscape. Reports from **Yle** and **The Guardian** confirm that the displacement of wild animals has had direct consequences on human settlements: wolves have come closer to villages since their habitat was destroyed. One resident summed it up like this: the wolves came into the village because all the wild animals left the forest.

Murky water is flowing through streams from the deforested area into the **Oulujoki** river. The topsoil has disappeared along with the forest, and nature has no chance of recovering in the near future. Seen from a satellite, the terrain is a visible wound: mud, rocks and roots where there was once forest.

## 145 data centre projects in the spotlight

Finland officially promotes its "stable democratic system" and clear tax legislation to attract data centres. There are currently **145 projects** in the planning stage in the country, with **Google**, **Meta** and **Microsoft** as the main investors. An analysis by Yle reveals that Google has promised **37,000 jobs** and announced that it will generate its own electricity, including an agreement with **Fortum** for nuclear power supply.

Data centres need space, electricity and cooling, and the cold Scandinavian climate is considered ideal. What is usually left out of the calculation are the local environmental costs and the question of who really owns that energy. While citizens are used to efficiency and frugality, the tech companies are building industrial complexes that transform entire landscapes.

It is not the first time. Seven years ago, Google had hundreds of thousands of trees felled in **Hamina**, and the authorities allowed the logging at the time because of the multibillion-euro investment. The pattern repeats itself: when a company offers billions in investment, there are always officials who look the other way.

## The fine-versus-profit calculation

The AI boom is driving explosive growth in data centres around the world, and the environmental consequences often only become apparent once the forest has already gone. **Alphabet**, Google's parent company, has a net worth of around **four trillion dollars**. However large the penalties Finland may impose may seem, the business calculation remains the same: if the punishment is a fine, for the rich it is simply the price of doing business.

It remains to be seen whether the halt in Muhos and Otanmäki is anything more than a temporary pause or a public relations exercise. For now, the presence of wolves in the villages is the clearest sign of what happens when the profits of US tech companies overshadow everything else.