Good news for the planet is rare, but Earth’s ozone layer is on track to fully recover within decades as ozone-depleting chemicals are phased out worldwide, according to a new United Nations-backed assessment.
The ozone layer protects the planet from harmful ultraviolet rays. But since the late 1980s, scientists have been alarming the public about a hole in this shield, caused by ozone-depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons, called CFCs, which are often found in refrigerators, aerosols and solvents.
International cooperation helped stop the damage. The use of CFCs has been cut by 99 percent since the Montreal Protocol went into effect in 1989, beginning the phase-out of these and other planet-damaging chemicals, according to an expert panel assessment released Monday.
If global policies remain in place, the ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 levels by 2040 for much of the world, the assessment said.
For the polar regions, the time frame for recovery is longer: by 2045 over the Arctic and by 2066 over the Antarctic.
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