CFC phase-out: have we met the challenge?

In 1974 Nobel prize winners Rowland and Molina proposed that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were stable enough to reach the stratosphere, where, under intense solar radiation they released Cl atoms that could destroy stratospheric ozone protecting the earth’s surface from UV rays. The CFC industry funded both scientific studies to test the Rowland and Molina hypothesis and programmes to identify potential replacements, from which the HFCs emerged as likely candidates. After 5 years it was concluded, on the best scientific evidence available, that stratospheric ozone was being depleted at ∼3% per decade, but sufficient time was available for an orderly phase-out. Although the USA and a few other countries stopped the use of CFCs in aerosols little further work was done until 1985 when the CFC debate was renewed following the discovery of stratospheric ozone depletion over the Antarctic during its spring. Manufacturers restarted their R&D programmes; governments negotiated the Montreal Protocol in 1987 agreeing the partial phase-out of the CFCs. As a result of subsequent amendments CFCs have now been phased-out in the developed world and HCFCs will follow over the next two decades. This paper reviews what has been achieved and what remains to be done. Has the world-wide effort been successful in protecting the ozone layer? Have “acceptable” alternatives been found for the CFCs/HCFCs in their various applications?