is the first major success of a global environmental pact

The UN announcement that the ozone layer – which protects humanity from ultraviolet radiation – is on its way to recovery has been like a breath of fresh air in a world overloaded with bad news. It is the first major environmental success on a global scale resulting from an international agreement. The call hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, which came to be ranked as the most feared environmental hazard facing humanity, will shut down completely within a few decades, according to these forecasts. But can this be a precedent that inspires other actions to reverse the degradation of the planet?

The problem of hole of the ozone layer has been put back on track thanks to the application of the Montreal Protocol (1987), which prohibited substances that destroy the atmosphere layer, while they were gradually replaced by others that were harmless to the atmosphere . It was the first binding international agreement that included very specific obligations for the elimination of these gases (CFC, HCFC…), which were used in applications such as refrigerants, fire extinguishers or aerosol propellants.

“This is a problem above all technological; climate change affects the growth model”

This success may suggest that other major environmental problems may also have an adequate solution. Can similar circumstances exist to guide effective action against climate change, for example? There are some similarities, but also notable differences between these two problems of global scope. In the agreement on the ozone layer it was about “very specific products and there were few companies and countries involved in their manufacture; and, furthermore, there were already alternatives available”, explains Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring service, to this newspaper. Finding alternative substances to dispense with CFCs and HCFCs turned out to be relatively easy.

On the other hand, facing global warming is something much more complex because the responsible gas emissions come from “millions of CO2 sources, from the use of energy, transport and other sources, and, in addition, all countries are concerned” emphasizes Peuch. It is the backbone of the economy based on fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) that is at stake.

Consensus

The answer was made with hardly any resistance. There was a proactive attitude from the United States and the leadership of the main multinational involved was appreciated

“The solution to the problem of the ozone layer had a basically technological component, the substitution of some substances for other innocuous ones; on the other hand, the response to technological change affects the growth model”, explains Salvador Samitier, director of the Catalan Office of Canvi Climàtic.

The response to the problem of the ozone layer was made with hardly any resistance. There was a proactive attitude from the United States and the leadership and goodwill of DuPont, the main multinational involved, was appreciated. The resistance only occurred in some developing countries that were producers of these substances, but their claims were met and a gradual reduction in production and export was established so as not to harm their economy.

However, from the effectiveness shown by the Montreal protocol and its application “some lessons can be drawn”, considers María José Sanz, scientific director of the Basque Center for Climate Change. For example, science has been heard. “There has been a very clear alignment of political agreements with science,” says Sanz while Vincent-Henri Peuch argues that “countries offered a concerted response to this scientific knowledge” very quickly.

The UN climate change agreement is far from being able to manage the climate crisis, although its entry into force has had some beneficial effects, as it has been one of the factors that has helped drive the deployment of renewables or electric mobility ( although in both cases other elements also affect). In this case, moreover, science has not been duly listened to. But it has had another relevant effect: in more recent times, it has crudely exposed the existing interests at stake by showing the enormous obstacles that exist. An example is Exxon, accused of having precise knowledge in its climate projections about the impacts that warming would have and, instead, of publicly maintaining a denialist attitude. In the same way, the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, has demanded that governments introduce taxes for the extraordinary profits of oil companies to compensate for the ravages of the climate. And the same Secretary General has promoted a guide to good practices so that companies stop greenwashing and really face the fight against global warming.

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Antonio Cerrillo

Meanwhile, the recovery of the ozone layer has not been a bed of roses. Some of the substitute products for dangerous CFCs and HCFCs had side effects. Specifically, HFCs were not harmful to the ozone layer, but they turned out to have a warming effect, which required a new international agreement (the Kigali amendment to the Montreal protocol), which meant the gradual reduction of their production and consumption. . But these banned products have been the subject of illegal trade. Peuch therefore warns that “we must continue to observe the presence of chlorinated and brominated gases in the ozone layer” in case at some point the Montreal protocol must be “strengthened” again.

“An example of what can be achieved with consensus”

The recovery of the ozone layer is, without a doubt, the first great environmental success on a global scale; but also “it is an example of the positive things that can be achieved with the consensus and effort of all”, highlights Javier Cacho, physicist, scientific popularizer and author -together with Mª Jesús Sainz de Aja- of Antarctica: The ozone hole ( Tabapress, 1989). The discovery of the hole in the ozone layer was a serious blow to the conscience of citizens, at least in Western society, “because we understood that our personal actions could have a global effect, on the entire planet; and as proof, the CFCs caused the destruction of ozone in Antarctica, in the cleanest and most pristine place on the planet”.
Javier Martín Vide, professor of Physical Geography at the University of Barcelona, ​​considers that among the main environmental problems with global impact, the ozone layer is “the only one that is beginning to be on the way to being solved, because observations in Antarctica , the most affected region, indicate that stratospheric ozone is beginning to recover.” In recent years it has been observed that the stratospheric ozone concentration is on the way to normalizing and the area affected by its minimum values ​​is decreasing. Despite everything, Martín Vide recommends that the population continue to use sunscreens, because the ultraviolet rays closest to light, UVA rays, continue to reach the surface naturally”.