How the “Best Accidental Climate Treaty” Stopped Runaway Climate Change

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Source: By Jenessa Duncombe, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The Montreal Protocol halted the destruction of the ozone layer. In the process, it saved one of Earth’s most important carbon sinks. ...The international treaty that phased out the production of ozone-depleting chemicals has prevented between 0.65°C and 1°C of global warming, according to research. The study also showed that carbon stored in vegetation through photosynthesis would have dropped by 30% without the treaty, which came into force in 1989. Researchers from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States wrote in Nature that the Montreal Protocol was essential in protecting carbon stored in plants. Studies in the polar regions have shown that high-energy ultraviolet rays (UVB) reduce plant biomass and damage DNA. Forests and soil currently absorb 30% of human carbon dioxide emissions. ...In the simulation, the UVB radiation is so intense that plants in the midlatitudes stop taking up a net increase in carbon. Plants in the tropics fare better, but humid forests would have 60% less ozone overhead than before, a state much worse than was ever observed in the Antarctic ozone hole.… [https://eos.org/articles/how-the-best-accidental-climate-treaty-stopped-runaway-climate-change]

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