Читать книгу Climate Change For Dummies - Elizabeth May - Страница 61

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are also considered GHG, responsible for about 12 percent of the greenhouse effect the planet is experiencing today. You don’t find much of these CFC gases around anymore because the Montreal Protocol of 1989 required countries to discontinue their use. CFCs break down the ozone — the layer throughout the stratosphere that intercepts the sun’s most deadly rays. (Without the ozone layer, the sun’s ultraviolet rays would kill all living things.) CFCs were mostly used in aerosol spray cans and the cooling liquids in fridges and air conditioning. The Montreal Protocol was a fantastic success. The use of chemicals that destroy the ozone layer is illegal — globally. And now the ozone layer has started repairing itself! A side effect of banning ozone-eating chemicals is that a lot of them were also GHGs. So protecting the ozone layer also helped the climate!

Because CFCs are already regulated under the Montreal Protocol, they’re not regulated under climate agreements. The recent Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol will remove a significant amount of GHG that are also ozone depleters (Read more about what gases are covered under the Kyoto Protocol in Chapter 11.)