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In July, Brandenburg gave Tesla the green light to expand production, but the development of this “gigafactory” by Elon Musk’s company is shrouded in controversy. There are those who call for “relativization” of the issue, because “there are advantages in replacing combustion cars with electric cars,” but activists are not giving up.
Mary Majd
Tesla’s construction of a “gigafactory” in Brandenburg, Germany, has resulted in the felling of around 500,000 trees. These “before and after” satellite images show the highly controversial development.
In analyzing these satellite images, the Environmental Information Company Kiros He concluded that 239 hectares of forest were destroyed. In about three years, between March 2020 and May 2023, that is equivalent to cutting down nearly 500,000 trees.
Electric car production, but at what cost?
To the British newspaper The GuardianThis is forest destruction, says Antoine Halff, senior analyst at Kiros. It should be “relative”.The expert believes that there are benefits to replacing combustion cars with electric cars.
“The Tesla factory in Germany has led to massive deforestation. Of course, this has to be taken into account, given the benefits of replacing internal combustion engine cars with electric vehicles.
Antoine Half explains that cutting down about 500,000 trees is equivalent to “About 13 thousand tons of carbon dioxide”That’s the same level emitted – on average – by about 2,800 combustion engines per year in the United States.
“This is a small fraction of the number of electric vehicles Tesla produces and sells every quarter,” he said. “There’s always a need to make commitments, but you have to be aware of the terms of those commitments.”
In July, Brandenburg gave Tesla the green light. Expanding production to 1 million electric vehicles annually, But the construction of this “giant factory” by Elon Musk’s company is shrouded in controversy.
Climate activists have been protesting the expansion of the plant by camping near the construction area. Carolina Derzio, of the “Turn off the Tesla tap” movement, lamented the destruction of “so much nature” in one of the “drier regions of Germany.”
“Expansion [da fábrica] “Further destruction of the forest must therefore be stopped,” he told the Guardian.
