SOUTH BEND — The large coal piles on the north edge of the University of Notre Dame campus should vanish within a few years.
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, on Monday announced plans for the university to cease burning coal entirely within five years and cut its carbon footprint by more than half by 2030.
The move comes in response to Pope Francis' encyclical released in June urging action to curb climate change.
"The pope is calling us to take the long view," Jenkins said Monday at a news conference on campus. "We want to join with the Holy Father in his call."
Notre Dame will invest $113 million in renewable energy sources and projects, including a hydroelectric project, solar power and geothermal fields both on and off campus, which collectively are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by an estimated 47,500 tons.
From its large power plant near St. Joseph Lake, Notre Dame generates about 50 percent of the campus' electrical energy needs, with the other half purchased from Indiana Michigan Power.
The campus power plant released 133,163 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2013, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.