Pope's concern about climate change prompts Notre Dame to end use of coal

Maureen Groppe | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The University of Notre Dame will stop burning coal for electricity in response to Pope Francis’ call to action on climate change, the school’s president announced Monday.

The Rev. John I. Jenkins also said Notre Dame will cut its carbon footprint by more than half by 2030.

The reductions are the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road, the school estimates.

“Notre Dame is recommitting to make the world a greener place, beginning in our own backyard,” Jenkins said in a statement.

The announcement came a day before Pope Francis arrives in the United States to visit Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia.

The pope in June issued an encyclical saying global warming is real, partly caused by humans and needs to be addressed more urgently despite the costs.

Jenkins said the encyclical -- "Laudato Si', On Care for Our Common Home" -- is a “challenging moral vision, but one for which, I believe, our world is hungry, and no university is better positioned to respond.”

Notre Dame had already cut the use of coal at its combined heat and power plant from 85 percent to 15 percent in recent years, by switching to cleaner-burning natural gas.

Jenkins said the school will end all use of coal over the next five years. That means more natural gas in the short term while the school invests $113 million in renewable energy projects.

For example, Notre Dame is working to build a hydroelectric facility on the St. Joseph River dam in downtown South Bend. The project, which could begin next year, would provide 7 percent of the campus’ electricity when completed.

Notre Dame currently generates about 50 percent of its own energy needs and buys the rest from Indiana Michigan Power.

Power plants account for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions.

The Obama administration finalized rules this summer requiring states to reduce power plant emissions by an estimated 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

While the rules don’t apply to plants like Notre Dame’s, the school said it’s already lowered emissions from its plant by 40 percent since 2005.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has said the state, which relies on coal for electricity more than most states, might refuse to comply with the federal regulations. He argues reducing emissions would hurt Indiana’s economy and raise power rates for manufacturers and residents.

The power plant rules are also opposed by congressional Republicans who are hoping to block them through legislation.

Pope Francis could challenge Republicans on the issue when he addresses Congress Thursday. He could also make Democrats squirm by talking about abortion. And he could talk about the excesses of capitalism and the injustice of income inequality, fueling divisions in the 2016 presidential race.

"Of course the pope is going to talk about these things," said Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and church observer for The National Catholic Reporter. "Political issues are often moral issues," he said, and as a prophet, it's the pope's role to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

Jenkins will be at the Capitol for Thursday’s address, the first by a pope to a joint session of Congress. The day before, Jenkins will attend a reception for Francis at the White House and celebrate Mass with him at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

About 500 Notre Dame students, faculty and staff are expected to attend the pope’s outdoor Mass in Philadelphia Sunday.

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Contributing: Deidre Shesgreen, USA TODAY

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Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com or @mgroppe on Twitter.