Google has been ordered to suspend construction at two data center sites in Finland until an environmental impact assessment is completed, just one month after the tech giant pledged a major investment in the country.

Finland's permitting and regulatory authority, LVV, issued a notice on Tuesday to Google's subsidiary Tuike Finland Oy, requiring construction work at the Muhos and Kajaani data center projects to be halted until an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is finished.

According to an announcement published by LVV, the stop-work order covers multiple activities including tree felling, topsoil stripping, excavation, quarrying, material crushing, earthmoving, trenching, and the construction of roads and storage areas.

A Google spokesperson said: "We understand the concerns, and in this instance we fell short of the high standards we set for ourselves. We will comply with the guidance and requirements of Finland's permitting and regulatory authority."

The spokesperson added: "We have carried out the project in good faith in accordance with the Forest Act, completed natural environment surveys, and introduced measures to protect high-value ecological areas. As we pursue long-term projects in the region, we are advancing landscape and biodiversity protection plans, including planting 130 hectares of trees on the Muhos project site."

LVV has required Google to implement the stop-work order by October 23 at the latest. The order does not apply to planning surveys, measurement, soil investigations, and other activities with minimal impact that can be easily restored to their original state.

Toomi Muilu, head of the environment department at LVV, said in a statement: "We believe the aforementioned construction activities will alter the environment and bring about various impacts. Identifying and assessing these impacts is the core objective of the environmental impact assessment process."

The 'Texas of Europe'

Amid the AI construction boom, Finland has become a hot destination for data center investment. With land and power resources scarce across most of Europe, major hyperscale cloud providers and developers are increasingly favoring Finland's abundant land and electricity supply.

Finland has recently announced multiple data center projects, with individual projects potentially reaching hundreds of megawatts in installed capacity. The surging demand for computing power has earned Finland the nickname "the Texas of Europe."

The U.S. state of Texas is a core hub for global AI data centers, with companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Anthropic all establishing large-scale projects there.

Google plans to invest $15 billion in Finland, marking the company's largest investment in Europe. Google said the funds will be deployed by 2028 for data center construction as well as related energy infrastructure investments.