The construction of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in the felling of some 500,000 trees, according to satellite analysis.
The construction of the German factory has been highly controversial, sparking major protests and sparking debate over the advantages and disadvantages of developing a green economy.
Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, has He criticized the local police for letting the “left-wing protesters” go free.
Satellite images show that 329 hectares (813 acres) of forest were cleared at the site between March 2020 and May 2023, according to environmental intelligence firm Kayrros. That equates to roughly 500,000 trees.
Since May, climate activists have protested against the planned expansion of the gigafactory, occupying tree houses at a nearby camp and attempting to storm the site. One group set fire to an electricity pylon and halted production at the factory for a few days in March.
Karolina Drzewo, from the Turn Off Tesla’s Tap campaign alliance, said the analysis showed the company’s electric vehicle production had caused local destruction of nature as well as global damage through metal mining. “In one of the driest regions in Germany, too much of the environment has already been destroyed,” she said. “An expansion and thus further destruction of forests and endangering the protected drinking water area must be prevented.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Antoine Halff, chief analyst at Kayrros, says: “Tesla’s factory in Germany has led to a huge amount of tree felling. Of course, this has to be put into perspective, in relation to the benefits of replacing internal combustion cars with electric vehicles.”
Halff said the lost trees were equivalent to about 13,000 tonnes of CO2the annual amount issued by 2,800 Average internal combustion engine cars in the United States. “It’s a fraction of the number of electric cars that Tesla produces and sells every quarter,” he said. “There are always trade-offs to be made, so you have to be mindful of what the terms of the trade-offs are.”
In July a plan was presented to expand the Tesla plant Doubling production to 1 million cars a year was Approved by the state of Brandenburg Ministry of Environment.
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Dozens of environmental incidents Incidents such as leaks or spills of diesel fuel, paint and aluminium have been reported at the site, where millions of battery cells are also produced.
Tesla did not respond at the time, but He said later Several incidents occurred at the plant during construction and since the start of operations, but none of them caused environmental damage and corrective measures were taken where necessary.
Kayrros measures deforestation using optical images from the Sentinel-2 satellite, which have a resolution of 10 metres and are publicly available. These data are processed automatically, but their quality is checked by remote sensing experts.
Kayrros said its deforestation detection tool was being developed to help companies comply with EU regulations on deforestationwhich will ban the import of goods linked to forest destruction from 2025. The tool could also be used to independently monitor forests used as carbon offsets in the voluntary carbon market, the company said.
