Tesla cut down 500,000 trees for a factory

Between 2020 and 2023, Tesla (TSLA) over 500,000 fell trees on the outskirts of Berlin to make way for its German gigafactory. If left in place, the trees would have absorbed enough CO2 for offset emissions of almost 3,000 cars every year.

adze (TSLA) started building its German gigafactory in 2020, and the first car rolled off the line in 2021. In order to be able create a site large enough for the installationthe automaker had to cut down thousands of trees to clear the site and prepare the land for construction. In the years since construction began, that practice continued to allow the expansion of Tesla’s European factory.

Now, the full extent of the tree-cutting has been mapped through satellite imagery of the site, REPORTS Tutor. According to the British news publication, Tesla cut down trees on 813 acres of forest between March 2020 and May 2023. According to estimates, this represents 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 that the company’s electric vehicle production 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. “Expansion and thus further destruction of forests and jeopardy of the drinking water protected area must be prevented.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Antoine Halff, chief analyst at Kayrros, said: “The Tesla factory in Germany has resulted in quite a lot of tree cutting. Of course, it has to be put into perspective, against the benefit of replacing internal combustion engine cars with electric vehicles.”

Since construction has begun on the Tesla siteits construction was marred by protests from environmentalists who accused Tesla of greenwashing. They argue that leaving the forests where they are would do more for the planet than switching to electric vehicles.

Experts suggest that this number of trees could absorb up to 13,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, reports Interesting Engineering. This is equivalent to average annual CO2 emissions of approximately 2,800 cars here in the United States. Despite this, the clearing of the site could be scheduled to continue, as the website explains:

Despite the significant deforestation, Brandenburg’s state environment ministry approved plans to double the factory’s production capacity to 1 million cars a year. This decision only increased the controversy, as dozens of environmental incidents were reported at the site, including leaks and spills of diesel, 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.

The expansion of Tesla’s European factory has been a contentious issue for months. environmental activists protested repeatedly at the site, including sit-ins in key forest areas around the facility and these even stormed the factory in May.

The moves were obviously met with disdain from company boss Elon Muskwho called on X to describe the protesters at the site as “either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or the puppets of those with no good environmental goals”.

A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik.