The ozone layer is currently on track to recover over the coming decades. Bans on fluorocarbon compounds are having an effect.
That was pointed out by a UN-appointed panel of experts on Monday at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Denver. The decision to phase out many ozone-depleting substances also benefits climate protection.
Recovery 40 years after course reversal
If current trajectories are maintained, the ozone layer should recover to 1980 levels by around 2066 in Antarctica, 2045 in the Arctic and 2040 in the rest of the world – this was before the formation of the hole in the ozone layer. In 1987, the UN agreed to the Montreal Protocol to phase out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) because they damage the ozone layer. This layer in the Earth’s atmosphere protects the Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
Action with big impact
The additional end agreed by the United Nations in 2016 to certain chemical refrigerants, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), could reduce global warming by 0.3 to 0.5 degrees by 2100, experts write. Trifluoromethane was not included in the calculation. HFCs are used in refrigerators, for example, and sometimes also in heat pumps or air conditioning systems. For some time, gases were considered an alternative to CFCs.
Although HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, they are significantly more damaging to the climate than CO2, for example. In an extension of the Montreal Convention, the agreement to phase out the use of HFCs took place in 2016.