January 22, 2020

U.S. companies slow down recovery of ozone layer

topic:	Climate Change
located:	USA, China
editor:	Yair Oded

It is a widely-held presumption that the hole in the ozone layer of the atmosphere is sufficiently healed, and that the right mechanisms are in place to ensure it remains sealed. Recent scientific evidence, however, reveals that chemicals emitted by numerous companies, many of which are based in the United States, contribute to thinning of the ozone and significantly slow down its recovery process. Alas, the U.S. government seems reluctant to produce accurate reports on the matter and take the necessary steps to either ban or decrease the usage of such chemicals. 

Back in 1987, 46 world nations came together and signed a treaty known as the Montreal Protocol, which is aimed at protecting the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing-out production and usage of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The treaty, which is overseen by the United Nations Environment Program, tightly regulates a series of ODSs, the most notorious of which are Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). However, the treaty does not control all chemicals proven to be damaging the ozone layer, nor does it prohibit the usage of chemicals it does regulate when the latter are used as byproducts to create other substances. 

Carbon tetrachloride, which was used in the making of CFCs and is regulated by the Montreal Treaty, is currently being used by American companies as a building-block for other chemicals. According to The Intercept, U.S. companies released 1.3 million pounds of the chemical into the atmosphere between 2012 and 2018. As per a report published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, scientists from across the country are alarmed by the rising amount of carbon tetrachloride in the atmosphere. 

Methylene chloride, a chemical not regulated under the treaty because it was historically perceived to be non-threatening to the ozone, has recently been identified as one of the primary culprits behind the slowing down of the recovery of the ozone layer. Between 2012 and 2018, American companies released 19.8 million pounds of the chemical into the atmosphere, according to reports submitted by the companies themselves to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Scientists claim, however, that the actual amount of Methylene chloride found in the atmosphere significantly exceeds the data reported by the companies. Used frequently in fracking and oil and gas drilling, usage of this dangerous substance appears to be on the rise. 

As reported by The Intercept, despite the alarms raised by many  in the scientific community, the EPA refuses to consider the impacts on the ozone in its current assessment of numerous chemicals found to be acting as ODSs. 

Stalling on ozone protection action in the U.S. is nothing new. Back when the hole in the ozone was identified, the Reagan administration went to great lengths to deny first the existence and then the urgency of the ozone crisis. Furthermore, for years, executives at E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, then the primary producer of CFCs, fervently denied any connection between the chemicals they produced and the thinning ozone layer, in spite of mounting international scientific consensus on the matter. 

In recent years, the U.S. has been supportive of the international community in pressuring companies based in other countries to abandon the usage of ODSs, as was the case with China in 2018. Now, the time has come for the U.S. to clean up its own back-yard and seal whatever loopholes were left by the Montreal Protocol.