PRESS RELEASE
Zero emissions and air quality: the environmental and energy sustainability project for Saint Peter’s Basilica
The “green” programme of the Fabric of Saint Peter, ten years on from “Laudato si’”, also involving other adjacent buildings.
Cardianl Gambetti: “Vatican Basilica a zero-impact ‘home’ that welcomes everyone and encourages everyone to grow in humanity”
VATICAN, 16 JUNE – A programme for the reduction of emissions, an intelligent system for air quality monitoring inside Saint Peter’s Basilica, the dissemination of good practices in environmental matters in order to promote sustainable behaviour and lifestyles, care and stewardship of our common home. These are the cornerstones of the more articulated Project for Environmental and Energy Sustainability of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, launched in 2022 by the Fabric of Saint Peter, fundamental for tackling the climate crisis and promoting the transition to integral ecology.
Ten years after the Encyclical “Laudato si’”, signed by Pope Francis on 24 May 2015 and published the following 18 June, the first results of the Project, the result of a collaboration with ENEA, the Polytechnic of Milan, and the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” have been made known.
The management of material flows
The “Resource diagnosis” conducted by ENEA relates to the flows of materials and water resources in Saint Peter’s Basilica and in Palazzo della Canonica, Palazzo di Santa Marta, and the Mosaic Studio.
Actions have been indicated to reduce consumption, waste and environmental impact, with relative costs and benefits, from differentiated waste collection to water fountains to eliminate plastic containers and to substitute non-biodegradable packaging.
The project of the Fabric of Saint Peter can constitute a model that may be replicated for other historic, religious and cultural sites, in order to improve environmental and management efficiency.
Energy flow management
The Polytechnic of Milan, after analyzing annual energy consumption, has proposed system and bioclimatic efficiency measures, without altering the historical-artistic heritage, from replacing old systems with heat pumps to lighting with LED lamps and activating natural ventilation for cooling.
For Palazzo della Canonica, it is planned to replace hydronic terminals with waterloop systems and install heat pumps (air or groundwater), reducing consumption by between 48% and 57% and emissions by between 65% and 72%.
At the Mosaic Studio, the replacement of radiators with waterloop systems, the introduction of controlled mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and the use of high-fidelity LED lighting, with a reduction in consumption of over 60%.
Expected results: reduction of energy consumption by 43% and CO₂ emissions by 62%.
Continuous monitoring of indoor pollutants inside Saint Peter’s Basilica
In the last thirty years, scientific interest in air quality in closed environments has grown, especially since the modern population spends over 90% of the time indoors, where pollution is often worse than outdoors. The Covid-19 pandemic further highlighted the importance of monitoring indoor air, especially to reduce the risk of the transmission of viruses and bacteria, to ensure the salubrity of the environments accessed daily by tens of thousands of pilgrims and visitors in this Jubilee Year.
This provides the context for the project to monitor air quality in Saint Peter’s Basilica, where in seven places, with the Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Environment of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, advanced sensor systems have been installed to detect particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (TVOC), carbon dioxide (CO₂), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and microclimate parameters in real time.
The results to date show that, despite the high number of visitors – between 40 and 45 thousand per day – the Basilica maintains good air quality, thanks to its large size and effective natural ventilation.
“The sustainability project regarding the monumental complex of Saint Peter’s Basilica aims to make the Vatican Basilica, with the community that animates it and with the millions of pilgrims and tourists who visit every year, a zero-impact ‘home’, that welcomes everyone and encourages everyone to grow in humanity”, said Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, President of the Fabric of Saint Peter. “The monumental architecture is complex, the field of intervention is complex, in terms of constraints, volumes and numbers, and the operation to implement it is complex”.
“Vatican City State has been engaged for many years in promoting sustainable development through ecological policies to safeguard the environment and to provide energy-saving strategies, in the spirit of the principles of the Encyclical ‘Laudato si’’, the Apostolic Exhortation ‘Laudate Deum’ and the Encyclical ‘Fratelli tutti’, added Cardinal Gambetti.
“The Scientific Committee of the project, which has validated methodologies and projects in the energy and environmental fields, monitors, reports and certifies the results of the actions, then contributes, with information and training tools consistent with the UN 2030 Agenda, also interreligious dialogue, adhering to the ‘One Health’ approach”, explained the project coordinator, Walter Ganapini.
