Scientists say a global environmental treaty signed more than 30 years ago has helped save our planet from 2.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.

Without the Montreal Protocol, agreed in 1987 that led to a ban on ozone-depleting chemicals, the researchers said we would already have faced a “scorched earth” reality.

The models paint a dramatic picture of a world that has been avoided, represented in a “scorched earth” scenario, even hotter than the climate crisis we are currently facing, thanks to what is considered one of the most important international treaties in history.

If the world had not come together to ban ozone-destroying chemicals in the late 1980s, the new study suggests that climate change would have exacerbated global warming significantly by 2040.

According to the findings, the continued rise in chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) would have caused the breakdown of the ozone layer worldwide by 2040, leading to an increase in harmful ultraviolet radiation falling on plants and animals.

Without the global agreement to ban these chemicals, known as the Montreal Protocol, scientists believe that the tropics would have lost 60% of their ozone coverage by 2100, a hole even larger than the one that formed over Antarctica in the early 1980s.

In all likelihood, collective exposure to unfiltered radiation will damage plant tissues, significantly slowing their growth and impairing their ability to photosynthesize in many parts of the world, some more than others.

By 2100, scientists estimate that the breakdown of ozone caused by CFCs (which contains carbon, chlorine and fluorine) will eventually prevent forests, soils and other plants from absorbing 580 billion tons of carbon dioxide, making its concentration in the atmosphere 40 percent higher. % to 50%. This is an additional 0.8°C (1.4°F) rise coming towards the end of the century, CFCs themselves are greenhouse gases, and if they are not already banned, scientists predict they will contribute to a 1.7°C (3°F) increase in global warming. Fahrenheit) by 2100.

In total, the temperature we were able to avoid by sticking to the Montreal Protocol is 2.5 °C (4.5 °F).

The result is that today we have a real opportunity to halt the worst effects of climate change. Certainly, we would be on the verge of unleashing a “greenhouse”, had it not been for the Montreal Protocol, where today we are trying to limit fossil fuel emissions to keep the temperature rise below 2°C.

“A world in which these chemicals increased and continued to strip away the protective ozone layer would be disastrous for human health, but also for plants,” says Paul Young of Lancaster University. An increase in UV radiation would have drastically dwarfed plants’ ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, which means higher levels of carbon dioxide and an increase in global warming.”

However, this does not mean that we are in a good position. There is still a lot of work for the world to do to change our fossil fuel emissions, and at the same time, we cannot be complacent about CFCs.

And because while the results of this latest research speak of the success of the Montreal Protocol, they also point to its potential failures.

And if the agreement is one day ignored, it may eventually undermine our chance of mitigating the climate crisis.

Soon, the ozone layer can be completely healed, and it appears that the atmosphere is already stabilizing some features of our climate.

However, a few years ago, scientists came across a mysterious source of CFCs that appeared to be on the rise.

Later, it appeared that the emissions were coming from mainland China, in an industrial area that may have been producing the chemical illegally.

Regardless, his presence has prompted renewed warnings not to forget the Montreal Protocol and what can be achieved when the world sets its collective mind on a mission.

Source: Daily Mail