Authority asks Google subsidiary to halt Hamina data centre work

Finland’s Permit and Supervisory Agency has asked Google subsidiary Tuike Finland to suspend expansion work at its data centre in Hamina over concerns that flying-squirrel routes may have been damaged, Yle reports. Kymen Sanomat first reported the request.

The agency’s environmental department group manager, Jonna Kartano, told Yle by email that the work must stop until the matter is resolved. The aim is to prevent possible damage to nature or a decline in natural values. Tuike Finland has agreed to suspend the work.

The Southeastern Kymi branch of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation submitted an urgent request to the agency in October. The branch says earthworks and tree clearance are under way in the Summan area of Hamina, and that a green corridor used by flying squirrels may be severed across a stretch about 50 metres wide. It warned that continuing the work could cause irreversible harm to the local flying-squirrel population.

During a data centre expansion in Hamina in 2018 and 2019, Tuike Finland illegally cut down trees used by flying squirrels for resting and movement, according to the article. The company acknowledged at the time that the areas had been destroyed.