Chemicals that thin the ozone layer and exacerbate global warming are to be phased out more rapidly under an agreement by nearly 200 countries in Montreal at the weekend.
The deal brings forward by ten years to 2030 a ban on hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) used in air conditioning, refrigeration and hairsprays, and sets a timetable for an accelerated phase-out of the chemicals in developed countries by 2020.
HCFCs not only damage ozone, they have a global warming potential 1800 times that of carbon dioxide, so the agreement is estimated to mean a reduction of the equivalent of 26 billion tons of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere.
The treaty was agreed in 1987 to slow down the manufacture and eventually eliminate production of substances that deplete the ozone layer which protects the Earth from harmful solar rays which can cause skin cancer and accelerate global warming.
The black spot shows a "hole" in ozone distribution over the South Pole
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