Gases that harm the ozone layer in the atmosphere decrease faster than expected: study

Paris:

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 gradually eliminate substances that destroy the ozone layer found mainly in refrigeration systems, air conditioning and aerosols.

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

“This has been a huge global success. We are seeing that things are moving in the right direction,” the study’s lead author, Luke Western, from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, told AFP.

The most harmful CFCs were phased out by 2010 in the effort to protect the ozone layer – the shield that protects life on Earth from harmful 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 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 an imminent ban on these pollutants.

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

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

CFCs can last hundreds of years in the atmosphere, while HCFCs have a shelf life of about 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.

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

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