Page - 690 - in Menschenrechte und Gerechtigkeit als bleibende Aufgaben - Beiträge aus Religion, Theologie, Ethik, Recht und Wirtschaft

© 2020, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847111658 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737011655 mobility consumption such as increased air travellingwith higher emissions. PopeFrancisagreesthattechnologyalone(e.g.,higherefficiency)doesnotbring humanitytowardsasustainablepath(LS20).Inaddition,radicalchangesinhow we structure our societies (consistency, LS 219) and personal life style (suffi- ciency)arenecessary.Consistencymeans thecreationof innovativesystemsof livingtogether,e.g., theestablishmentofasharedandeffectivepublictransport system (LS 58 and 153) or of using car-sharing systems instead of running privatevehicles incities thatwastepreciousspace,causeairandnoicepollution andhinder thedevelopmentof efficientpublicmobility. Smart cities eliminate private vehicles fromtheir territories, so that theydonot occupy theprecious resource city-space andprevent the birth of efficient and sustainablemobility systems(e.g.,providingconvenientPark&RideFacilitiesoutsideofthecities). Anotherexampleforconsistencyistoswitchtodepositreturnsystemsinsteadof current socially and ecologically harmful one-way throwaway systems. Con- sistency favorsacirculareconomybasedonzero-wastepolicies that internalise external costs (e.g., carbontax;plasticbag levy; see alsoLS36).AlreadyPope Benedict XVI called for a strict implementation of the True-Cost-Principle (German:Kostenwahrheit)whenhewrites: “Tomakeeveryeffort toensure that theeconomicandsocial costsofusingupshared environmental resources are recognizedwith transparency and fully borne by those who incur them,notbyotherpeoplesor futuregenerations” (CiV50).34 Thesendingofplasticwaste fromtheUS,Canada,orEuropetoAsiareveals the inconsistent and unjust logic of a “killing economy”. Such inconsistent ex- ternalizingpractices (“others shouldpayorbear theburden”)have tobeover- come.This applies to all levels of consumptionand trade, on themicro,meso, andmacro level.TheUser-orThrower-Pays-Principlehas tobepromoted, such as throughpoliciespromoting theExtendedProducerResponsibility (EPR), as wellasTake-Backregulationsbygovernmentsthatrequireshopsandretailersto takebackbatteriesandtoxicprintercartridges,andtocreateandfeedfundsfor circular systemsof resourceuse: “Resourcesareoftenusedinefficientlybecausetheinformationaboutthetruecosts to society of consuming them is not available, with the result that businesses and in- dividuals cannot adapt their behavior accordingly. Policy measures to improve re- source efficiency andoverall economic competitivenessmust place greater emphasis on ’getting prices right’ andmaking them transparent to consumers, for instance in transport,energyandwaterusage,sothatpricesreflectthefullcostsofresourceuseto society(e.g.intermsofenvironmentandhealth),anddonotcreateperverseincentives. 34 BenedictXVI.,Caritas inveritate,Vatican2009, sec. 50. FranzGassner690 Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0