The Vatican City State is pesticide-free, it imports green energy

Achieving “zero emissions” for the Vatican City State is an achievable goal and another green initiative it is pursuing, said the head of its infrastructure and services department.

The Vatican's reforestation program has seen 300 trees of various species planted over the past three years and "an important milestone" is that the small nation "has achieved its goal of being pesticide-free," Father Rafael Garcia de the Serrana Villalobos. New in mid-December. He also said that the electricity the Vatican imports is produced entirely from renewable sources.

The walled area of ​​the Vatican City State covers approximately 109 acres, including extensive gardens, and the papal property at Castel Gandolfo extends over 135 acres, including approximately 17 acres of formal gardens, residences and a farm.

De la Serrana said their new irrigation system for the Vatican Gardens saved about 60% of water resources.

"We are promoting green economy policies, that is circular economy policies, such as the transformation of organic waste and organic waste into quality compost, and a waste management policy based on the concept of considering them not as waste but as resources," He he said.

The Vatican no longer sells single-use plastic products, and about 65 percent of regular waste is successfully separated for recycling, he said; the target for 2023 is to reach 75 percent.

About 99 percent of hazardous waste is collected properly, "allowing 90 percent of waste to be sent for recovery, thus giving value to the policy of treating waste as a resource rather than waste," he said.

Used cooking oils are collected to produce fuel, and the Vatican is studying other ways to further recover municipal waste so that it can be "transformed into a resource, both thermal and electrical, as well as the transformation of hospital waste into fuel, avoiding it. as well management as hazardous waste, ”he stated.

"There will be a gradual replacement of the fleet with electric or hybrid vehicles," he said.

These and other projects are part of the Vatican's goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions. Pope Francis has promised that the city-state will achieve this goal before 2050.

Pope Francis was one of dozens of leaders who contributed to the Climate Ambition Summit, held online on December 12, in which they renewed or strengthened investment commitments and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.

The pope was one of about two dozen leaders who announced a commitment to net zero emissions, which would strike a balance between the greenhouse gas emissions produced and the greenhouse gas emissions carried out of the atmosphere, for example by switching to “green” energy and sustainable agriculture, increased energy efficiency and reforestation.

De la Serrana told Vatican News that "climate neutrality can be achieved by the Vatican City State mainly through the use of natural wells, such as soil and forests, and offsetting the emissions produced in an area by reducing them to a other. Of course, this is done by investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency or other clean technologies such as electric mobility "