Finnish police open criminal probe into Google data-centre site over environmental law breaches

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.

Authorities say Tuike Finland, a local subsidiary of Google, conducted forest clearing and drainage at the site before the environmental impact assessments required under Finnish law had been completed.

Detective Superintendent Kari Pakanen said the authorities were investigating "whether the company's operations have breached the Water Act" and resulted in environmental damage, adding that a guilty finding could lead to a corporate fine. Pakanen declined to say whether individuals could become targets 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. Finnish authorities had already ordered Google to stop work at the site at the start of October; the latest police statement highlights shortcomings in drainage and water management.

The project is part of a $15bn deal announced last month by Alphabet's Google to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure in Finland, which the company described as its largest investment in Europe. Videos and photographs showing the scale of the forest clearance prompted widespread anger in Finland.

Finnish Green MP Oras Tynkkynen called Google's actions "unforgivable", while cautioning that scrutiny was also diverting attention from legacy Finnish forestry companies, which he described as the biggest contributors to biodiversity loss in the country.

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.