Finnish authorities have ordered a halt to building work at two deliberate Google knowledge centres amid issues over the clearance of more than 300 hectares of forest.
The websites kind half of Google’s file €13bn (£11bn; $15bn) investment in Finland, announced less than a month in the past and described by the company as its largest single investment in Europe.
The Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV) said work at one web site was carried out without a obligatory environmental affect evaluation and ordered measures that would “significantly alter the environment” to be suspended by 23 October.
Google said it had “fallen short of our own high standards in this instance” and would observe the company’s steerage.
The orders relate to preparatory work carried out at the deliberate knowledge centre websites in Muhos and Kajaani.
According to LVV’s head of atmosphere Tommi Muilu, work at the websites included the elimination of trees and topsoil, the construction of web site roads and storage areas, and modifications to ditches.
Tuike Finland, the company behind Google’s knowledge centre tasks, has been requested to present an clarification and set out how it intends to proceed by 14 October. The company said it could start “enforcement proceedings” if the company failed to comply with its demand.
Hanna Halmeenpaa, chair of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, had beforehand instructed the AFP information company that “nature sites which should be preserved” had been felled. The conservation group had beforehand called for work to be halted while the environmental necessities were examined.
In a assertion to the BBC, Google said: “We understand the concerns and have fallen short of our own high standards in this instance.”
It said it had “acted in good faith under the Forestry Act”, carried out nature surveys and put measures in place to defend areas of high environmental worth.
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