Good News Amidst Climate Change Turmoil

Good news from 10,000 ft above sea level. Here in Quito, Ecuador today, the latest United Nations Scientific Assessment jointly done by UNE and WMO reveals the continued success in sealing the Ozone Hole in the stratosphere. The world is safe, at least from a deadly attack of the UV rays. Recovery of the ozone layer is up to 3 pc per decade since the start of the 21st Century. The ozone layer protects life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays from the sun.

Indeed, this good news amidst global turmoil in environmental degradation is possible. Encouraging. And this good news is a solid one. The global community has worked collectively to achieve this result. Actions under the Montreal Protocol over last more than 25 years have led to sustainable decreases in the atmospheric abundance of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) like CFCs. 

The inspiring words of Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment, “The Montreal Protocol is one of the most successful multilateral agreements in history for a reason i.e. the careful mix of authoritative science and collaborative action that has defined the Protocol for more than 30 years and was set to heal our ozone layer", say it all.

At projected rates, Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone is scheduled to heal completely by the 2030s followed by the Southern Hemisphere in the 2050s and polar regions by 2060.

CFCs and other phased out ODS are now part of the history book. . 

I am proud of an integral part of the process, having made contributions, first as a member of the Indian Government's negotiating tea, then as Head of the OzonAction programme of UNE to assist 146 developing countries and now as reviewer of UN Science Assessment Panel ( SAP) and Senior Expert advising UNE's Technology and Economic Assessment Panel ( TEAP).

On 1st January 2019, riding on the white house of success the Montreal Protocol now enters in the cloud of climate change. From that date, the Protocol enters the domain of Climate Change. Called as Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, now the efforts would be to make a correction factor i.e. phase-out of HFCs, powerful global warming/ greenhouse gases ( GHGs) that were introduced to implement the 'successful' Protocol. 

Full compliance to Kigali Amendment would reduce future global warming due to HFCs by about 50% between now and 2050 compared to a scenario without any HFC controls.

This is critically important when the world is struggling from the shock with a stark warning from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which found just 12 years ( which coincides with 2030-an end point for SDGs!) remain to limit global warming to 1.5°C, beyond which, the impacts of a further rise in global temperatures will begin to have an increasingly extreme impact on human society and ecosystems.

The IPCC report offered the clearest evidence to date of the drastic difference between the 1.5°C and 2°C scenarios.The Montreal Protocol may as well turn out to be master saviour of the world from Climate Change. END