In February 2020 Tesla had a few turbulent days trying to start a new European car and battery Gigafactory. First, a local environmentalist group called the Grüne Liga Brandenburg (Green League of Brandenburg) put forward a complaint because the factory requires the clearance of 92 hectares of forest cutting down around ~95000 trees. Subsequently, mid-February this complaint temporarily stopped execution until later in the month court ruled that Tesla can proceed with their operations.

So, we have to ask is it morally justifiable to deforest a portion of land especially for someone who claims he wants to protect nature?

Short answer: it depends.

It would be a much bigger issue if it was a company like BP, Lukoil, Shell or Exxon Mobil, which would add up to global warming. Since the beginning, Elon and people from his ventures as Tesla or Solar city were quite vocal about fighting CO2 emitting giants.

Each electric car and battery made also means fewer petrol cars on the road and fewer powerplants running on coal or gas to stabile the electrical network. Each Tesla user means a massive amount of CO2 never emitted into the atmosphere. As of April 2019, Tesla reported it had sold more than 550,000 electric vehicles, with more than 10 billion miles driven. That works out as saving over 4 million metric tons of CO2 compared to conventional fossil fuel cars.

Furthermore, Elon Musk donated $1,000,000 for planting trees at $1 per tree in October 2019 to Team Trees organization, which is the Carbon sequestration equivalent of that new forest will have in 3 years as those 92 hectares in Germany.
Elon has done already much more than many on this planet, so maybe before unnecessarily delaying their operations, it would be nice to do “cost/benefit” analysis before people act.

Maybe green movements from time to time need to rethink their strategies. The thing will not happen on their own, and from time to time, we will need to make some sacrifices to achieve what we all want.

Moreover, who knows, maybe with the wealth Elon has acquired, he will keep donating a similar amount each year for reforesting, which would hugely help with Trillion Tree target.

It goes without saying for everyone who keeps fighting for our species survival - thank you and keep up the good work!