Between 2020 and 2023, Tesla felled more than 500,000 trees on the outskirts of Berlin in order to make space for its German gigafactory. If left in place, the trees would have absorbed enough CO2 to offset the emissions of almost 3,000 cars every year.
Tesla began constructing its German gigafactory back in 2020 and the first car rolled off the line in 2021. In order to create a site big enough for the facility, the automaker had to fell thousands of trees to clear the site and prepare the ground for construction. In the years since construction started, that practice has continued to allow for expansion of Tesla’s European factory.
Now, the full extent of the tree felling has been mapped via satellite images of the site, reports the Guardian. According to the British news outlet, Tesla has felled trees across 813 acres of forest between March 2020 and May 2023. According to estimates, that accounts for the loss of approximately 500,000 trees over the three-year period:
Karolina Drzewo, from the campaign alliance Turn Off Tesla’s Tap, said the analysis showed the company’s production of electric vehicles had caused local destruction of nature as well as global damage through mining for metals. “In one of the driest regions in Germany, too much of the environment has already been destroyed,” she said. “An expansion and thus even more destruction of forests and endangerment of the protected drinking water area must be prevented.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Antoine Halff, the chief analyst at Kayrros, said: “The Tesla factory in Germany has led to quite a bit of cutting down of trees. Of course, it has to be put in perspective, against the benefit of replacing internal combustion engine cars with electric vehicles.”
Since construction began at the Tesla site, its build has been marred by protests from environmentalists accusing Tesla of greenwashing. They argue that leaving the forests in place would do more to help the planet than switching to electric vehicles.
Experts suggest that this number of trees could absorb as much as 13,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, reports Interesting Engineering. That’s equivalent to the average annual CO2 emissions of about 2,800 cars here in the United States. Despite this, the deforestation at the site could be set to continue, as the site explains:
Despite the significant deforestation, the Brandenburg state’s environment ministry has approved plans to double the factory’s production capacity to 1 million cars per year. This decision has only intensified the controversy, as dozens of environmental incidents have been reported at the site, including leaks and spills of diesel fuel, paint, and aluminum.
Tesla, while acknowledging these incidents, has maintained that no environmental damage has occurred and that corrective measures have been implemented where necessary.
Expansion of Tesla’s European factory has been a contentious issue for months. Environmental campaigners have repeatedly protested at the site, including sit-ins at key areas of the forest surrounding the facility and they even stormed the factory back in May.
The moves were, obviously, met with disdain from company boss Elon Musk, who took to X to describe protesters at the site as “either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.”