The Montreal Protocol is often pointed to as the template for how global treaties, when properly implemented, can save the environment. The 1987 pact was the first to be ratified by every UN country, and led to effective regulation of over 100 man-made chemicals that were depleting the ozone layer. New research now shows that the Protocol has delayed the first ice-free Arctic summer by up to 15 years, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from those substances. It’s predicted that an ice-free Arctic summer will still occur by mid-century. Without an intact ozone layer, it would have been a whole lot sooner.
Net zero sensemaker
Tuesday 23 May 2023