Source: Fortune
Summary
The Vatican plans to become the world’s first carbon-neutral state by investing 100 million euros in an agrivoltaic plant, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. The project, which will power Vatican City within two years, builds on Pope Francis’ 2024 climate initiatives. The plant will be built on a 1,050-to-1,100-acre estate outside Rome and is expected to generate 80 to 90 megawatts of power. The Vatican’s current solar installation produces about 300 megawatt-hours annually, far less than the new plant’s capacity. The project aligns with the Vatican’s 2023 climate pledge to reduce emissions by 20% by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050.
Our Reading
The numbers tell one story.
The Vatican is investing 100 million euros in a solar plant to become carbon-neutral. The project is expected to power the microstate within two years. The plant will be built on a 1,050-to-1,100-acre estate outside Rome. It will generate 80 to 90 megawatts of power, far more than the current solar installation. The Vatican’s climate pledge includes a 20% emissions cut by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050.
The Vatican’s plan is small in scale but large in ambition. It’s a microstate with 800 residents and 3,000 workers. The plant is built to power lights and a radio transmitter, not data centers. The Vatican’s efforts contrast with the U.S. administration’s stance on climate change. Trump has called climate change a con job and skipped the UN climate conference. The Vatican’s plan is moving forward despite political tensions.
The Vatican’s climate efforts are rooted in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, which called for action on emissions. Pope Leo has continued this stance, calling for urgent climate action. The Vatican’s plan was formalized in a 2024 letter. Italy agreed to the plan in July 2025. The Vatican is working with an Italian utility to build the plant. The project is expected to take 18 to 24 months.
The Vatican’s plan is a small but significant step toward carbon neutrality. It’s a unique effort for the world’s smallest country. The plant’s scale is modest compared to AI data centers. The Vatican’s climate pledge includes a 20% emissions cut by 2030. The project aligns with the Vatican’s moral stance on climate change. It’s a rare example of a small entity making a big environmental commitment.
The Vatican’s climate plan is a rare example of a small entity making a big environmental commitment. It’s a unique effort for the world’s smallest country. The project is moving forward despite political tensions. The Vatican’s plan is a small but significant step toward carbon neutrality. It’s a bold move for a microstate with limited resources.
Author: Evan Null
At risk of power shortages
A single large AI data center now consumes as much electricity as a city of 80,000 people, Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla wrote in Fortune this year, and companies are building hundreds of them at once. Data centers accounted for roughly half of all new U.S. electricity demand in 2025, and globally, data center electricity use is projected to more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours, equivalent to Japan’s entire current electricity consumption. The buildout is reshaping the U.S. utility business, too. NextEra Energy’s $66.8 billion deal to acquire Dominion Energy in May was driven largely by AI data center demand clustered in Virginia, rather than residential growth. American Electric Power plans to spend $78 billion through 2030 to keep pace. Goldman Sachs projected the AI buildout will push US electricity costs up 6% between 2026 and 2027, with a further 3% increase by 2028, increasing neighboring homeowners’ utility bills. By contrast, the Vatican’s entire planned plant would generate less power than a single mid-sized AI campus, let alone the industry racing to build hundreds more.
Trump at odds with the Vatican
The Church’s position on climate traces to Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si,” which argued that wealthy nations bear disproportionate responsibility for emissions and called for a shift away from fossil fuels. Pope Leo XIV has continued holding that stance since Francis’ death, calling for “urgent” climate action at a UN conference this year and saying that God’s creation is “crying out.” He’s also labeled new technology, including AI, a moral concern: Leo has said he chose his papal name partly in reference to Pope Leo XIII, who wrote about protecting workers during the first Industrial Revolution, and is applying that same lens to AI’s effect on labor today. That stance puts the Vatican at odds with the current U.S. administration: President Donald Trump has called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” and the U.S. skipped this year’s UN climate conference entirely. Trump and Leo have also clashed more publicly over Trump’s military actions in Venezuela and Iran and his administration’s immigration policies, with Trump at one point suggesting Leo’s election as pope was illegitimate. Fiscally, the U.S. ended a 2025 federal credit for residential solar as the EPA canceled a $7 billion low-income solar program in August. A BlueGreen Alliance tally found 223 clean-energy projects, worth $82.8 billion, canceled or stalled since the policy shift.
Pope Leo keeps the plan moving
After Francis formalized the Vatican’s plan in a June 2024 letter called “Fratello Sole,” Leo kept it moving, visiting the site in June 2025 and calling it “a wonderful opportunity.” Italy agreed to the plan in July 2025, and the Vatican formalized ties with the Italian utility ACEA in June 2026 to build it jointly. Sources told Reuters the full build is expected to take 18 to 24 months. The Vatican’s plan is a small but significant step toward carbon neutrality. It’s a unique effort for the world’s smallest country. The project is moving forward despite political tensions. The Vatican’s plan is a small but significant step toward carbon neutrality. It’s a bold move for a microstate with limited resources.
The Vatican’s climate pledge
The Vatican’s 2023 climate pledge to the UN sets a 20% emissions cut from 2011 levels by 2030 and a “zero emissions” goal by 2050. The new plant would also dwarf what the Vatican currently produces. Its only existing solar installation—2,394 panels on the roof of the Paul VI Audience Hall, installed in 2008—generates about 300 megawatt-hours a year. The new plant’s 80- to 90-megawatt capacity alone is hundreds of times larger than that. The Vatican’s climate efforts are rooted in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, which called for action on emissions. Pope Leo has continued this stance, calling for urgent climate action. The Vatican’s plan is a rare example of a small entity making a big environmental commitment. It’s a unique effort for the world’s smallest country.
Comparing the Vatican’s plan to AI data centers
The Vatican’s plant is built to run a few hundred residents’ worth of lights and a radio transmitter, not racks of GPUs. The Vatican’s plant would generate less power than a single mid-sized AI campus, let alone the industry racing to build hundreds more. The Vatican’s plan is a small but significant step toward carbon neutrality. It’s a unique effort for the world’s smallest country. The project is moving forward despite political tensions. The Vatican’s plan is a small but significant step toward carbon neutrality. It’s a bold move for a microstate with limited resources.
