Alternative energies
Vatican will be supplied with solar energy in the future
The Vatican wants to become climate neutral. Photo
© Gregorio Borgia/AP/dpa
The Vatican is to become climate neutral. In the future, Pope Francis therefore wants to supply the small Papal State with solar energy. A large photovoltaic system is now to be installed.
In the future, the Vatican will be completely powered by solar energy. In a letter called “Brother Sun,” Pope Francis ordered the construction of a photovoltaic system on a piece of land north of Rome that belongs to the Papal States as an extraterritorial area. The system in Santa Maria di Galeria is intended to supply electricity not only to the Vatican Radio broadcasting station there, but to the entire Vatican.
“There must be a transition to a sustainable development model that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality,” says the letter signed by Francis. Humanity has the technological means to deal with this ecological change and its harmful social, economic and political consequences. Solar energy is one of them.
Environmental protection is very important to Pope Francis
By building the plant, the Pope wants to contribute to the efforts of all states to find an appropriate response to climate change in accordance with their respective responsibilities and capabilities. It initially remained unclear when exactly the photovoltaic system in Santa Maria di Galeria would be installed and put into operation.
Environmental protection is very important to Pope Francis. In the spirit of his environmental encyclical “Laudato Si'” from 2015 and his apostolic letter “Laudate Deum” from 2023, the Vatican wants to become climate neutral. Last year, for example, Francis decided to completely replace the Vatican’s vehicle fleet with electric cars by 2030.