‘Pimp my Climate’ #2: Powered by…God(s)?

The world’s smallest state just became its biggest climate leader. Kind off. What happened? Has this place and piece of big news been overlooked?

The Vatican city-state of 50 hectares in size (or 50 football pitches) will soon be powered 100% by solar, thanks to a (still to be built) agri-photovoltaic plant ~15km away, where it owns 424 hectares of land. Only seven other countries are powered (almost) exclusively by renewables but none solely by solar (you guess why). Here it gets interesting:

In 2008, the Vatican installed solar panels for the first time, >2000m2 on top of the Paul VI Audience Hall which lies only partially in the Vatican City but mostly in Rome, Italy. But in its first-ever official climate targets from 2023, the state calls the power from precisely this installation a “negligible amount of energy produced from renewable sources”, and consequently it “depends almost entirely on energy imports.”

This is exactly where you can (and should) start asking questions such as:

1.????? Not a single new solar panel seems to have been installed in the last 16 years. Architecture and infrastructure are one thing, but law and instructions are another: Why is there still not a single solar panel on the rooftops within Vatican City?

2.???? Assuming that the Vatican will only need a fraction of the 424 hectares of land near Rome to be fully powered by the sun (presumably created by God on the 4th day), what are Pope Francis & Co. going to do with the rest of that land?

3.???? Why does the Vatican own more than 5,000 (!) properties, of which more than 4000 in Italy and 1,000 abroad, as first revealed in 2021 (in the consolidated financial statement for the Holy See, the ‘government’ of the Catholic Church).

4.??? What is it doing with all of these properties? How are they powered and are they even considered in the Vatican’s official climate targets , first announced in 2023?

5.???? Should the Vatican’s next climate target not be 100% emissions reduction by – now?

6.??? Imagine if all, or at least half of the Vatican’s buildings and extraterrestrial properties were covered with solar panels. What signal would that send to Catholics (~1.4 billion people worldwide ), besides the more than 5 million yearly visitors of the Vatican? Would they not gain faith, hope, inspiration to do the same?

7.???? Do we have to wait until 2030 for all of the Vatican’s car fleet to be electric – including the ‘Popemobile’? Once the Vatican harvests (and stores) all its solar potential, this surely can be accelerated and even be exported to Italy, no?

8.??? Also, instead of price-volatile heating gas and oil, why does the Vatican not use heat pumps or other clean technologies that make the state energy-independent?

9.??? …

Now, the world’s smallest state has done some great stuff in recent years. Precisely today, two years ago, a Senior Vatican Cardinal called for an international Fossil-Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty that tackles the climate crisis at its source. Before, the Vatican already called for large-scale fossil fuel divestment and new policies for investments in a more just and sustainable world. Pope Francis personally has also instructed believers and non-believers alike on the need to care for our common home since 2015 (‘Laudato Si’ ).

A little excursion here: I grew up in the most godless part of the world (thanks, Communism?), so chances were slim that I would turn out (or convert) to be a believer. But I have been a great believer and participant in government-sponsored events fostering inter-religious dialogue (thanks to an accidental check box for trade unionists?). Anyway, I explored the nexus of religion, power, violence and climate in both of my academic dissertations , informed by field research in South Africa and India. And I can say:

Dear Pope (and other religious leaders), please start getting creative, we don’t buy the ‘Heritage Protection’, ‘Historic Environment’ etc. argument any longer. What about the ‘Future Environment’ instead? If you want to practice what you preach, start dismantling ‘hidden handbrakes ’ such as outdated, anti-climate building codes (and related instructions). In a rapidly diversifying world, including the diffusion of religions, I don’t want to see solar panels just on mosques in Jordan, but also in Germany and France; not just on the Sikh Gurdwara Sahib Woolwich temple in London and the Golden Temple in Amritsar , Punjab/India, but all Gurdwaras; not just on the Hindu Temple of the Woodlands in Greater Houston but also the world’s biggest sports ‘temple’, the Narenda Modi (Cricket) Stadium ; on every synagogue outside Israel and finally the first one in Israel (ending the war with Palestine and offsetting all military emissions also sounds like a good idea).? ???????

I know that we are still living in a world where it is significantly more difficult for Vanuatu than for the Vatican to pay for clean energy or climate adaptation measures such as ACs or sea walls – calls for drastically reforming the international financial system towards a monetary and economic order fit for the twenty-first century . But in a world that was built for a climate that no longer exists , religious institutions are very well positioned to truly be climate-positive and -resilient leaders.

My only wish for Christmas, Diwali, Hanukkah and all other religious holidays still to come in 2024: No more mass heat deaths (and exploitation of religious travellers) as in Mecca a few weeks ago . If you can (and most of the readers of this article will be able to), open your doors, your gates, your prayer halls, kitchens, pockets and hearts for all those suffering from extreme climates – whatever their denomination and belief system –? and ‘beat the heat ’: Why not inviting people to rest in solar-powered, AC-cooled edifices during the hottest parts of a day, asking for donations (who can afford it). Religious institutions and faith leaders should lead by example and demonstrate that they care about their (and other) people, both for present generations (wasn’t there something with abortion rights?) and all those still to come. I am a ‘secular statistic’, but I don’t want others to lose faith.

Over to you: Are you active in faith-based groups? Can you share stories of ‘tiny transformations’ (or even ‘resounding revolutions’) regarding the climate crisis? How many odd (?) cases such as the Vatican can you think of, and in which parts of the world? Which changemakers in these geographies do you know, how can you support them – or could you be one of them, inspiring future generations of progressive leaders yourself? ?