By George George Idowu
Vatican City is on track to become the eighth country in the world to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources.
Pope Francis recently announced plans to build a large solar plant in the smallest country by land mass to achieve full energy independence.
The new solar project will be constructed on a 424-hectare Vatican-owned property outside of Rome, expanding the existing solar panel installations within the city-state.
In his apostolic letter titled “Fratello Sole” or “Brother Sun,” Pope Francis emphasised the urgent need for a sustainable development model that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and achieves climate neutrality.
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“We need to transition towards a sustainable development model that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, setting the objective of climate neutrality,” Pope Francis wrote. “Humanity has the technological means necessary to face this environmental transformation and its pernicious ethical, social, economic, and political consequences, and solar energy plays a fundamental role.”
By transitioning to solar power, Vatican City will meet all its electricity needs from renewable sources, joining a small group of countries that generate more than 99.7% of their electricity from renewables. As listed last week, these countries include Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Ethiopia, Iceland, and Congo, according to data compiled by Stanford University Professor Mark Z. Jacobson earlier this year. An additional 40 countries currently generate at least 50% of their electricity from renewable energy technologies such as geothermal, hydro, solar, or wind.
Professor Jacobson explained the feasibility of this shift in an interview with “The Independent: “We don’t need miracle technologies. We need to stop emissions by electrifying everything and providing the electricity with Wind, Water, and Solar (WWS), which includes onshore wind, solar photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, geothermal electricity, small hydroelectricity, and large hydroelectricity.”
Environmental stewardship has been a central focus of Pope Francis’s papacy. In 2015, he identified human-induced climate change as one of his primary concerns for the planet’s future. Vatican City joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2022, demonstrating its commitment to addressing “dangerous human interference with the climate system.”
In recent statements, Pope Francis has voiced his alarm over the escalating climate crisis, which he describes as having “gotten to the point of no return.” In an interview with CBS News, he criticised world leaders’ lack of sustained action, stating, “It is tough to create an awareness of this. [World leaders] hold a conference, everybody agrees, sign, and bye-bye. But we have to be very clear: global warming is alarming.”
With this new solar initiative, Vatican City sets a powerful example in the global fight against climate change and reaffirms its commitment to leading by example in the transition to renewable energy.
