Ozone-damaging gas is declining faster than expected: Study June 12, 2024

Credit: studio023 / Getty Images Atmosphere layers

By AFP- Agence France Presse

Ozone-damaging gas is declining faster than expected: Study

Scientists said on Tuesday that international efforts to protect the ozone layer were a “huge global success” after revealing that harmful gases in the atmosphere were decreasing faster than expected.

The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, aimed to phase out ozone-depleting substances, found mainly in refrigeration sprays, air conditioning, and aerosols.

A new study has found that atmospheric hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), harmful gases responsible for holes in the ozone layer, peaked in 2021, five years ahead of projections.

"This was a great global success. We're seeing things moving in the right direction,” the study's lead author, Luke Western, from the University of Bristol in the UK, told AFP.

The most harmful CFCs were phased out by 2010 to protect the ozone layer, the shield that protects life on Earth from dangerous levels of ultraviolet rays from the sun.

The HCFC chemicals that replaced them are expected to be phased out by 2040.

This study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, examined the levels of these pollutants in the atmosphere using data from the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment and the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

Western attributed the sharp decline in HCFCs to the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol, as well as stricter national regulations and a shift by the industry in anticipation of a future ban on these pollutants.

“In terms of environmental policy, there is a certain optimism that these environmental treaties can work if they are enacted and followed properly,” said Western.

Both CFCs and HCFCs are also powerful greenhouse gases, which means that their decline also helps in the fight against global warming.

CFCs can remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, while HCFCs have a lifespan of around two decades, Western said.

Even when they are no longer in production, the previous use of these products will continue to affect the ozone for years to come.

In 2023, the United Nations Environment Program estimated that it could take four decades for the ozone layer to recover to the levels before the hole was first detected in the 1980s.

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