German Court Rules Tesla Must Stop Cutting Down Local Forest To Make Room For Its Gigafactory

A German court ruled this week that Elon Musk must halt his plan to clear a forest near Berlin in order to build Tesla’s German Gigafactory. The court put the stay on Tesla while it considers challenges from environmentalists, according to Bloomberg. 

That’s right – Tesla was cutting down a forest to put up an EV factory – this is environmentalism in 2020. 

The court issued an injunction against further construction after it overturned a lower court’s ruling against environmental group Gruene Liga Brandenburg, who is looking to prevent Tesla from clearing the forest. The court is expected to render a final decision on the complaint in several days. 

Joerg Steinbach, spokesman for the regional government said: “Tesla and the local government have already filed their response to the complaint and are now relying on the prompt decision of the court.”

Tesla has already cleared about “150 soccer fields” worth of forest and has been forced to relocate several species of animals, while also considering the breeding periods of local wildlife.

Recall it was about one month ago that we first reported Tesla was cutting down “thousands of trees” in order to make space to erect its German Gigafactory. 

The company was tasked with clearing so much forest space to put up its factory that dozens of protesters recently organized a gathering known as a “Forest Walk” to protect against Tesla’s tree removal activities at the site, according to Teslarati. 

The protesters were dressed in yellow vests, replicating the “Yellow Vest Movement” in France and are also concerned about what the deforestation may do to the drinking water in the area.