Finland opens criminal probe into Google data centre site over environmental damage
Police are investigating whether Google subsidiary Tuike Finland cleared forest and drained land near Muhos before legally required environmental assessments were completed.
At a glance
- Finnish police opened a criminal investigation into suspected environmental law breaches at a planned Google data centre site near Muhos.
- Authorities say Google subsidiary Tuike Finland cleared forest and drained land before required environmental impact assessments were done.
- Google says it will cooperate with police; the project is part of a $15bn Finnish AI infrastructure investment.
Finnish police have launched a criminal investigation into suspected breaches of environmental law at the construction site of a planned Google data centre near the town of Muhos in northern Finland.
The project forms part of a $15bn investment in Finnish artificial intelligence infrastructure announced last month by Alphabet's Google, which the US company described as its largest investment in Europe.
Authorities say Tuike Finland, a local subsidiary of Google, carried out forest clearing and drainage at the planned site before the environmental impact assessments required under Finnish law had been completed. Finnish authorities ordered work to stop at the site at the start of October.
Water Act investigation
Detective Superintendent Kari Pakanen told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that police were investigating whether the company's operations had breached the Water Act and resulted in environmental damage, adding that a guilty finding could lead to a corporate fine. He declined to say whether any individuals could become a target of the investigation.
A Google spokesperson said the company would cooperate with the police investigation and continue to focus on maintaining compliance at its sites.
Videos and photographs showing the scale of the forest clearance at the site, along with Google's initial reluctance to address the issue in the days after the news broke, prompted widespread anger in Finland, where the public has a high level of respect for the natural environment.
Political reaction
Finnish Green MP Oras Tynkkynen told Al Jazeera he shared "all the outrage and dismay directed at Google", particularly given that the parent company is valued as the third-largest in the world. "There is just no excuse," he said, adding that a company of that size can afford the best legal experts to navigate local requirements.
Tynkkynen called Google's actions "unforgivable", but cautioned that the anger directed at the US tech giant was also diverting scrutiny away from legacy Finnish forestry companies, which he said are "by far the biggest contributors to biodiversity loss in this country".
Why Finland
Finland's cool climate, low-carbon electricity and government endorsement of AI projects have helped make the country one of Europe's main destinations for data centre investments in recent years. Finland is similar in size to Germany but has one-seventh of the population, fewer than six million people, and has seen less vocal opposition to data centre buildouts than other places, including the United States.
Grid operator Fingrid has said AI data centres are among the main drivers of a projected rise of up to 40 percent in Finland's electricity consumption in the coming years, if all agreed grid connection projects go ahead.
Google's planned investments in Finland include data centres, electricity grid improvements and clean energy and battery projects to power services such as Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube. In September, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the deal would be a boost for the economy, playing down concerns that it would absorb energy and push up power prices.
Source: Al Jazeera.
Questions and answers
- Why is Finland investigating Google?
- Police are examining whether Google's local subsidiary, Tuike Finland, breached the Water Act and caused environmental damage by clearing forest and draining land near Muhos before required environmental impact assessments were completed.
- What could Google face in the Finnish investigation?
- Detective Superintendent Kari Pakanen told Reuters that a guilty finding could lead to a corporate fine. He declined to say whether any individuals could become targets of the investigation.
- How big is Google's investment in Finland?
- The data centre is part of a $15bn investment in Finnish AI infrastructure that Google described as its largest investment in Europe, covering data centres, grid improvements and clean energy and battery projects.
