Elon Musk ‘cut down 500,000 trees’ to make way for vast German Tesla gigafactory, satellite images reveal – risking fresh row with eco-activists he branded ‘dumb’
* Around half a million trees were cleared for the Berlin Gigafactory
* Analysis revealed that this was the equivalent to 13,000 tonnes of CO2
* The Gigafactory is already a controversial site in Germany
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla felled an estimated half a million trees while developing a gigafactory near Berlin, new satellite analysis has revealed.
Analysis from environmental intelligence firm Kayrros suggests that 329 hectares (813 acres) of dense woodland from the site southeast of Berlin were felled between March 2020 and May 2023. This is the equivalent to around 500,000 trees.
The amount of CO2 that trees absorb varies from species to species, but a mature tree will, on average, absorb around 48lbs (22kg) of carbon every year, meaning the lost trees were equivalent to 13,000 tonnes of CO2, according to Kayrros chief analyst Antoine Halff.
Halff 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.’
Tesla boasts of its green credentials on its website, claiming that all the electricity used at the Berlin Gigafactory, which opened in 2022 after starting work in 2020, was ‘matched with renewables in 2023.’