Why the Ozone Hole Is on Track to Be Healed by Mid-Century - Recent UN data shows that 99 percent of ozone-destroying chemicals have been phased out, underscoring a hopeful environmental story.
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In 1985, atmospheric scientists in Antarctica noticed something troubling. For decades, they’d been measuring the thickness of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, the layer of gas that deflects much of the sun’s radiation. Starting in the 1970s, it had started plummeting. By the mid-1980s, they observed that it was on track to be wiped out in the next few decades.
Their discovery was cause for worldwide alarm and unprecedented action. In short order, the international community marshaled its resources — scientific, economic, diplomatic — to mount a campaign to ban the chemical that caused the damage, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and to restore the ozone layer.
Fast-forward to today: The ozone is on the path to recovery, ifnot fully restored.A report released by the UN on January 9, 2023, found that the ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades.Thanks to the most effective international environmental treaty ever implemented, nearly 99 percent of banned ozone-depleting chemicals like CFCs have been successfully phased out. Should those policies remain in place, the report finds that the ozone layer is projected to return to its 1980 levels by 2040 as a global average, with thinner Arctic ozone recovering by 2045 and Antarctic ozone — the area where scientists first discovered a hole — recovering by 2066.
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