Banning CFCs Helped Us Avoid an Even Worse Climate Catastrophe

Shawn Radcliffe of Healthline reports a 1987 worldwide ban on ozone-depleting chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) averted a dangerous rise in the level of ultraviolet radiation (UV) reaching the Earth’s surface. Without this multilateral environmental agreement, people worldwide would have faced a higher risk of skin and other cancers Trusted Source, eye damage, and possible immune system problems due to excess UV rays. But a new modeling study from UK researchers suggests that the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer also prevented a 2.5°C increase in global warming by the end of the century. “As well…