The Ozone Layer Is Officially Healing, Scientists Confirm After Four Decades

A UN-backed panel says the Antarctic ozone hole will fully close within the century — proof that global environmental treaties can work.

Nearly forty years after the Montreal Protocol banned ozone-depleting chemicals, the planet is on track to fully repair its protective layer, a new UN-backed report has confirmed.

Atmospheric measurements now show sustained recovery over both the Antarctic and Northern Hemisphere. The panel of scientists behind the report say the ozone hole should close entirely by 2066.

Susan Solomon, the atmospheric chemist whose work helped identify the cause of the ozone hole in the 1980s, called the finding evidence that international cooperation on environmental threats can succeed at scale.

The Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987, remains the only UN treaty ratified by every country in the world. It phased out chlorofluorocarbons and related compounds used in refrigeration and aerosols.

Recovery has been slower than initially hoped, in part because of illicit CFC emissions traced to industrial facilities. But those emissions have since dropped after enforcement pressure from multiple governments.

For scientists who have studied ozone loss since its discovery, the news is a quiet triumph. "We know the tools work," Solomon said. "The question is whether we can apply them elsewhere in time."

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