Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the chemicals that punched a hole in the ozone layer, are back. Scientists couldn't explain why they are rising alarmingly when they have been banned since 2010.
Banned Chemicals Leaving Holes in the Ozone Layer Are Back
Scientists were startled to learn that levels of numerous types of compounds used in air conditioning and refrigerators that had been banned had since increased, reaching a record high in 2020. According to the current research, the culprit may be substitute refrigerants used to replace ozone-depleting compounds, The Verge reported.
However, the worse issue is that researchers can't determine where the chemicals are pouring from.
Over the past few decades, the ozone layer has greatly recovered. Nevertheless, if emissions keep increasing, they may offset the progress made and accelerate climate change.
The international agreement, known as the Montreal Protocol, negotiated to restore the ozone layer, is generally regarded as a great success. It was quickly embraced after scientists in the 1980s found a huge hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica.
The agreement compelled producers to create substitutes for CFCs and other ozone-depleting materials. The ozone layer on Earth is recovering as a result of that. Scientists predicted that the ozone layer would look like it did before the Antarctic hole around 2066.
The finding of increasing CFC emissions shocked researchers. Since the Montreal Protocol was adopted in 1987, CFCs have been phased out gradually.
After the entire restriction on the manufacture and consumption of the substances in 2010, at the very least, emissions ought to have decreased.
Possible Explanation of Rising CFCs
According to the latest research, a Montreal Protocol loophole has let some CFCs thrive. CFCs are technically still permitted to be utilized by businesses when producing alternatives, even though they are intended to be nearly nonexistent in items that once contained them. In other words, CFCs can be employed as a raw material or component in synthesizing a new molecule.
Three of the five CFCs that have become more common since 2010 fit that description (CFC-113a, CFC-114a, and CFC-115). They are used to produce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which take the role of CFCs in fire extinguishers, freezers, and air conditioning.
HFC leakage from appliances is also a problem. They are "super" greenhouse gases with hundreds to thousands of times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. In essence, officials tried to fix an old problem by creating a new one.
According to the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, HFC consumption is expected to decrease by 85% globally by 2047.
Businesses are expected to be able to stop leaks and get rid of any leftover CFCs from making HFCs or other chemicals. Nevertheless, given that these CFC emissions are increasing, the new research contends that may not be the case.
Scientists can't precisely pinpoint what's causing the spike in pollution due to a lack of monitoring worldwide. The latest study's researchers collected CFC measurements from 14 locations worldwide.
As a result, the cause of the surge in emissions of two types of CFCs (CFC-13 and CFC-112a) that aren't even employed in the manufacturing of HFCs is even less known to researchers.
Stefan Reimann, a researcher from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, said in the news briefing that they don't know the CFC leakage's source, which is worrying.
Thankfully, the pollution caused by the five elusive types of CFCs examined in the new research isn't enough to undo decades of progress toward removing the majority of ozone-depleting compounds.
The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
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