Every country in the world has signed on to the Montreal Protocol. A lot of aerosols contain a chemical CFCs which are destroying the ozone layer. The increase of ozone depleting substances reversed in the early 1990s, and by the early 2000s, we could definitely see that CFC levels were starting to decrease.
A UN report has found the Earth’s ozone layer is on course to be healed within the next 40 years. What was once humanity’s most feared environmental peril is now an example of how the world can take collective action. Madeleine Finlay speaks to atmospheric scientist Paul Newman about this momentous achievement and whether it really is the end of the story. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod