The E-Waste Column no. 221

11 hours ago

3 min read

Today, we are looking at a few examples from around the world of how datacenters can be drivers for deforestation.

🌱 How do datacenters contribute to deforestation?

Both the mining of raw materials for datacenters and the actual construction of datacenters can lead to deforestation. Aluminum, copper, steel, rare earth elements, and other raw materials are needed to produce datacenters. The mining of each of these materials can contribute to deforestation. In this context, it is worth noting that the rare earth elements for microchips that power AI are particularly “often mined in environmentally destructive ways”. Beyond this, datacenters also take up a considerable amount of space, and therefore their construction often also comes with the clearing of forests.

🌱 What is happening in Finland?

As a part of its EUR 13 billion investment, Google plans to build several datacenters in Finland. In this context, approximately 330 hectares of forest were cleared in Muhos and just under 200 hectares in Kajaani to make space to construct two of the planned datacenters. The forest has allegedly been cleared illegally, without the required environmental impact assessments. Consequently, the Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV) has ordered Google to suspend its work and the police is also investigating the matter. The use of the wood from the two sites could be subject to a ban, if it is found to have been felled illegally in any form. In addition to the deforestation, “[r]esidents have raised concerns about muddy runoff flowing from the cleared land”. Protesters are now “demand[ing] stronger environmental legislation” and “financial penalties for businesses responsible for biodiversity loss” in Finland.

🌱 What is happening in Canada?

Beacon Data Centers and VoltaGrid are planning to construct a hyperscale datacenter in Lorneville, Canada. The planned site of the datacenter notably has old-growth forest – the third-oldest forest in the province – and it is located “within the boundaries of a UNESCO Global Geopark”. The project is estimated to “dramatically alter” over 600 hectares of land. According to the environmental impact assessment for the project, locally very rare old-growth forest would be destroyed as a “long-term, irreversible, adverse effect”. The environmental impact assessment also said that approximately 3.5 hectares of old-growth forest would be lost and that this includes eastern white cedar, red spruce, and tamarack trees estimated to be as old as 280 years. Locals, however, estimate that the old-growth forest even contains trees that are over 300 or 400 years old.

🌱 What is happening in the U.S.?

Nscale and Fidelis New Energy built West Virginia’s first major AI-focused data center complex called the “Monarch Cloud Campus”. In this context, 445 hectares of hillside were stripped bare of its trees. The deforestation and altered terrain, in combination with overwhelmed stormwater systems and lacking erosion controls, is thought to have created the perfect conditions for a hillslide to occur in the area. In line with this, on 23 May 2026 and again on 11 July 2026, a nearby neighborhood was ultimately flooded after heavy rains and a hillslide.

🌱 What is happening on Indigenous lands globally?

While the use of AI, satellite imagery, and sensors can help to detect deforestation and protect Indigenous lands, it is worth pointing out that datacenters often have a disproportionately negative impact on Indigenous communities. Globally, the mining of the raw materials needed for datacenters often occurs on or near to the lands of Indigenous Peoples. The resulting deforestation can contribute to biodiversity loss, land degradation, and ultimately the displacement of Indigenous communities. Particularly in Brazil, which is “aspiring to become a global data center hub”, “Indigenous groups have seen their territories swallowed by illegal mining, logging, and deforestation” linked to datacenters. In this context, the Anacé – an Indigenous group from Ceará in the northeast of Brazil – also “brought a formal complaint before federal authorities, asking them to halt the development of a TikTok data center they said was being built on their land”.