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Tesla Gigafactory Berlin

Pine forest cleared and a car factory built on it, between two summers.

328.2 hectares changed — vegetation cleared · Before: 1 May 2019 – 31 Aug 2019 · After: 1 May 2021 – 31 Aug 2021 · 52.403, 13.800

BEFORE 2019-08

AFTER 2021-08

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328.2 haarea changed

32areas flagged

3,612 haarea examined

2satellites used

What changed, by type

258.9 haVegetation cleared

69.3 haNew vegetation

Land changes in both directions at once. SCOPE reports every type it measured, not only the one that makes the better headline.

What SCOPE found

Vegetation cleared — 195.8 ha
0.6 km south · between 27 Aug 2019 and 31 May 2021 · 97% sure

New vegetation — 16.6 ha
2.4 km south-west · between 3 Jun 2019 and 23 Jun 2019 · 87% sure

Vegetation cleared — 16.4 ha
3.1 km south-west · between 31 May 2021 and 7 Jun 2021 · 90% sure

New vegetation — 14.4 ha
2.7 km south · between 27 Aug 2019 and 31 May 2021 · 86% sure

Vegetation cleared — 12.8 ha
2.3 km south-east · between 27 Aug 2019 and 31 May 2021 · 97% sure

How sure is this?

The strongest area (#1) has 97% confidence. It appears in 4 of 6 later clear images, so it is not a one-day artefact. Radar confirmed some of these areas; the others rest on optical and seasonal evidence. Compared with the same season in earlier years, this is clearly unusual. Confidence measures how strong the evidence for real surface change is; it does not identify the cause or who did it.

How it was measured

SCOPE used Sentinel-2 optical imagery at 10 m, cloud-masked and combined over each period, Sentinel-1 radar as an independent check , and the same season in earlier years so normal seasonal change is not reported as real change. The analysis took 16 seconds.

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