Finland orders halt to work on Google data centre sites

Finnish opposition has called for measures to prevent power shortages, soaring energy prices caused by data centres.Published On 7 Oct 20267 Oct 2026A Finnish government authority has ordered work on two Google data centre sites to stop until compulsory environmental impact assessments have been completed.The United States tech giant announced in September a 13 billion euro ($14.6bn) investment in digital infrastructure in Finland over the next two years to power its artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions.Recommended Stories list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2Google blames AI as its emissions grow instead of heading to net zerolist 2 of 2How much heat does an AI data centre produce, and where are they located?end of listGoogle has called the data centre projects in the municipalities of Muhos, Vaala, Kajaani and Hamina its single biggest investment in Europe.But the Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV), which is responsible for environmental issues, said it had demanded that Tuike Finland, the company representing Google, “immediately suspend, and no later than 23 October 2026, all preparatory measures that would significantly alter the environment in connection with the planned data centre pro...