Getting every nation on Earth to agree on an environmental issue is tough, but it has
been done before.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer — or just the Montreal Protocol
— is the most successful step we’ve taken to protect our planet to date, but getting
there wasn’t easy.
When you hear about the ozone layer you probably think of aerosol cans, but the story actually
begins with air travel.
In the early-1970s jet setting around the world took off, and curious scientists started
gathering data on how airplanes were affecting Earth’s atmosphere.
Ozone is a vital molecule of three oxygen atoms that exists mainly in the stratosphere,
but it’s very rare: there are only about three molecules of ozone for every 10 million
molecules of air, Still those .3 parts per million of ozone play a critical role of absorbing
biologically damaging UV-B sunlight.
At the time, ozone had already been studied, but Frank Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina
threw ozone into the spotlight.They posited that chlorine atoms from refrigerators and
AC units might have an adverse effect on our atmosphere.
And boy were they right.
It turns out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can actually float all the way up to the ozone
layer.
And when they get there, the CFCs run rampant!
Ultraviolet light breaks a chlorine atom off the CFC.
That chlorine in turn breaks an oxygen molecule off of ozone and binds with it, until another
free oxygen atom comes along and kicks the chlorine off on its lonesome.
The spurned atom then continues the cycle of breaking down more ozone molecules into
oxygen molecules.
Basically, CFCs are serious home wreckers, and they were wrecking our home, planet Earth.
The study called out man-made chemicals for contributing to the problem, And as you might
expect, there was backlash from the people who made those chemicals.Because some of these
were commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning, industry groups had a lot to
lose, and resisted regulation.
Industry representatives said it was unnecessary to take action against useful chemicals over
what many felt was flimsy evidence.
Gee that sounds familiar.
But the scientific evidence kept mounting and a report from the National Academy of
Sciences, published in 1976 solidified, the link between CFCs and the depleted ozone layer.
So, of course, everyone jumped to action right away!
Just kidding, we waited until the problem got really bad.
In 1985, researchers found the ozone layer over the South Pole had depleted by about
40 percent in just a decade.
Even NASA hadn’t noticed, because the programs they were using were set to ignore what they
assumed were impossible ozone measurements.
NASA ignored a giant hole because they thought it was impossible.
Unable to ignore the problem any longer, 28 nations, including most of the largest CFC
producers, signed on to the Vienna Conventions, establishing guidelines for negotiating international
regulations on substances harmful to ozone.
But it wasn’t enough.
About two years later The Montreal Protocol was drafted.
Designed to reduce the production and consumption of substances harming atmospheric ozone, it
held signing nations responsible to gradually scaling back the use of nearly 100 chemicals.
The atmosphere-harming substances became controlled, and the protocol laid out a binding agreement
to stemming their use.
We were finally taking the environment seriously.
Can you imagine that happening now?
Can you?
The treaty has been adjusted and amended a number of times since.
It’s also been changed to account for unforeseen side effects.
Hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, were introduced as a chemical to take the place of CFCs in
things like refrigerators and air conditioners, and while they don’t hurt the ozone they
are greenhouse gases that trap heat far more efficiently than carbon dioxide.
Once that was known, a phase out plan for HFCs was added into the Montreal Protocol.
On September 16, 2009, the Vienna Conventions and the Montreal Protocol became the first
universally ratified treaties in UN history.
Now, 30 years later, the results of the Montreal Protocol are clear.
The ozone hole over the South Pole is healing, plus a new study has found an encouraging
side effect: a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States!
They found, prohibition on these chemicals eliminated the equivalent of 170 million tonnes
of carbon dioxide emissions annually, a level never anticipated in the original treaty.
The team estimates that by 2025 the US will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent
of 500 million tonnes of CO2 every year compared to 2005 levels.
The Montreal Protocol worked, thanks to the cooperation of all 197 signing nations.
If history were to repeat itself, now would be a great time.
Global temperatures are still rising, but The Paris Agreement, designed to keep global
temperature rise below the 2-degree tipping point is facing some … shall we say… pushback
from one signatory specifically.
But, if anything, the Montreal Protocol shows that if we pull together we can make a global
change that benefits everyone.
Some countries are doing better than others in the fight against climate change.
We did a video on whether China is taking the right steps; check it out right here.
Do you think it’s possible to undertake another climate agreement like the Montreal
Protocol?
Let us know in the comments, be sure to like this video, and subscribe for more Seeker.