Thirty years after countries agreed to reduce the use of chemicals that damage the ozone layer, there is Promising signs of that It will be ozone fully recoveredBy 2060. But we’re not out of the woods yet. a Stady published this month in Nature Geoscience shows that emissions from GaGaSubstances that were banned in the 1980s are actually on the rise today – with implications not only for the ozone layer. But also to climate change. Even more troubling, we’re not sure exactly what’s causing some of these emissions to creep in.
A group of pollutants that damage the ozone layer is called chlorofluorocarbons were previously Widely used in refrigerants, air conditioners, aerosol cans and other applications. The Montreal Protocol, the international treaty that came into force at the end of the 1980s, called on countries to phase out CFC use. The Protocol is largely considered an historic success in addressing a thorny and global environmental problem.
To get information about the global status of CFC emissions, the researchers used “atmospheric measurements of CFCs and a model of how the gases move around the world,” said study lead author Luke Western, a researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK and the National Oceanic and Research Institute. Atmospheric management, I told Earther in an email. CFC measurements were collected from stations around the world.
The study found that emissions from five different types of CFCs are increasing. Three of these CFCs have an explainable cause: a loophole in the Montreal Protocol that allows it some Emissions of CFCs are in the production of some hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are chemicals used largely to replace CFCs. While HFCs don’t pack much of an ozone layer, they are powerful greenhouse gaseses, with worrying implications for global warming. (The Biden administration signed a global amendment to the Montreal Protocol that would eventually phase out HFC use in September.)
The research by Western and his team isn’t able to pinpoint emissions concretely for a specific region or plant — but we can make some guesses. Historically, China was the world’s largest producer of HFCs. Like InsideClimate news mentionedOutside of China, it is the largest producer of HFCs The one whose by-products are traced back to the study is the Honeywell plant located in Louisiana.
While we can guess at some of the chemicals in the study, the other two CFCs that were measured are a strange mystery. Neither chemical has been approved for any type of use, and while it is possible that they may be associated with a number of industrial processes, further work and consultations with the chemical industry We are necessary.
He said, “We don’t really have evidence.” Western co-author Martin Vollmer, atmospheric chemist at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology in Dubendorf, during Press Conference Last month. “We don’t know of any chemical process where (these chemicals) would emerge as a by-product.”
The emergence of these chemicals is not just about the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol But also to climate change. “CFCs are powerful greenhouse gases, with global warming potentials many thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide,” Western said. emissions in 2020 from these five CFCs are about the same as the carbon dioxide emissions of a country like Switzerland.”
The levels of detected CFC emissions may be relatively small compared to pre-Montreal Protocol levels – but it’s still good to know what’s going on.
“We hope to give early warning so that others are aware of these emissions,” Western said.