UN Says Ozone Layer Slowly Healing, Hole to Mend by 2066 

This file image released on December 1, 2009, shows a combination of two images released by the NASA Earth Observatory showing the size and shape of the ozone hole each year in 1979 (L) and in 2009. (Handout / NASA / AFP)
This file image released on December 1, 2009, shows a combination of two images released by the NASA Earth Observatory showing the size and shape of the ozone hole each year in 1979 (L) and in 2009. (Handout / NASA / AFP)
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UN Says Ozone Layer Slowly Healing, Hole to Mend by 2066 

This file image released on December 1, 2009, shows a combination of two images released by the NASA Earth Observatory showing the size and shape of the ozone hole each year in 1979 (L) and in 2009. (Handout / NASA / AFP)
This file image released on December 1, 2009, shows a combination of two images released by the NASA Earth Observatory showing the size and shape of the ozone hole each year in 1979 (L) and in 2009. (Handout / NASA / AFP)

Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says. 

A once-every-four-years scientific assessment found recovery in progress, more than 35 years after every nation in the world agreed to stop producing chemicals that chomp on the layer of ozone in Earth’s atmosphere that shields the planet from harmful radiation linked to skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage. 

“In the upper stratosphere and in the ozone hole we see things getting better," said Paul Newman, co-chair of the scientific assessment. 

The progress is slow, according to the report presented Monday at the American Meteorological Society convention in Denver. The global average amount of ozone 18 miles (30 kilometers) high in the atmosphere won’t be back to 1980 pre-thinning levels until about 2040, the report said. And it won’t be back to normal in the Arctic until 2045. 

Antarctica, where it’s so thin there’s an annual giant gaping hole in the layer, won't be fully fixed until 2066, the report said. 

Scientists and environmental advocates across the world have long hailed the efforts to heal the ozone hole — springing out of a 1987 agreement called the Montreal Protocol that banned a class of chemicals often used in refrigerants and aerosols — as one of the biggest ecological victories for humanity. 

“Ozone action sets a precedent for climate action. Our success in phasing out ozone-eating chemicals shows us what can and must be done – as a matter of urgency — to transition away from fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gases and so limit temperature increase,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said in a statement. 

Signs of healing were reported four years ago but were slight and more preliminary. “Those numbers of recovery have solidified a lot,” Newman said. 

The two chief chemicals that munch away at ozone are in lower levels in the atmosphere, said Newman, chief Earth scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Chlorine levels are down 11.5% since they peaked in 1993 and bromine, which is more efficient at eating ozone but is at lower levels in the air, dropped 14.5% since its 1999 peak, the report said. 

That bromine and chlorine levels “stopped growing and is coming down is a real testament to the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol,” Newman said. 

“There has been a sea change in the way our society deals with ozone depleting substances,” said scientific panel co-chair David W. Fahey, director of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s chemical sciences lab. 

Decades ago, people could go into a store and buy a can of refrigerants that eat away at the ozone, punch a hole in it and pollute the atmosphere, Fahey said. Now, not only are the substances banned but they are no longer much in people’s homes or cars, replaced by cleaner chemicals. 

Natural weather patterns in the Antarctic also affect ozone hole levels, which peak in the fall. And the past couple years, the holes have been a bit bigger because of that but the overall trend is one of healing, Newman said. 

This is “saving 2 million people every year from skin cancer,” United Nations Environment Program Director Inger Andersen told The Associated Press earlier this year in an email. 

A few years ago, emissions of one of the banned chemicals, chlorofluorocarbon-11 (CFC-11), stopped shrinking and was rising. Rogue emissions were spotted in part of China but now have gone back down to where they are expected, Newman said. 

A third generation of those chemicals, called HFC, was banned a few years ago not because it would eat at the ozone layer but because it is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas. The new report says that the ban would avoid 0.5 to 0.9 degrees (0.3 to 0.5 degrees Celsius) of additional warming. 

The report also warned that efforts to artificially cool the planet by putting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect the sunlight would thin the ozone layer by as much as 20% in Antarctica. 



UN Ocean Conference Sets Sail Off France on World Oceans Day

People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
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UN Ocean Conference Sets Sail Off France on World Oceans Day

People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
People take photos of vessels during the "Ocean Wonders" event in honor of World Oceans Day ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Nice, France. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Dozens of research and exploration vessels from around the world set sail just off the French coastal city of Nice on Sunday to kick off the third UN Ocean Conference and pay tribute to World Oceans Day.

The event, themed “Ocean Wonders,” saw the vessels sail across Nice's Baie des Anges, or Bay of Angels, to spotlight the beauty and importance of the ocean while urging world leaders not to lose sight of its value as they make decisions about the planet’s future.

Thousands of delegates, including heads of state, scientists, and environmental advocates, are expected in Nice this week to confront growing threats to the ocean, and the need to transform pledges into protection.

The United Nations has called the threats a global emergency facing the world’s oceans as they confront rising temperatures, plastic pollution choking marine life, and relentless overexploitation of fish and other resources.

Just 2.7% of the global ocean is effectively protected from destructive activities like industrial fishing and deep-sea mining — far below the global goal of 30% by 2030, The Associated Press reported.

Participating boats included the Energy Observer, a solar-panel covered catamaran that was the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe using renewable energy alone. It produces hydrogen fuel on board via seawater electrolysis, offering a vision of zero-emissions maritime travel.

Other standout vessels included France’s Alfred Merlin, dedicated to underwater archaeology; the OceanXplorer, a high-tech billionaire-owned research yacht; and the WWF’s Blue Panda, which is working to map and protect the last remaining seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean Sea.

At the heart of the conference is the push to ratify the High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023. If it takes effect, the treaty would for the first time allow countries to establish marine protected areas in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and remain largely ungoverned.

“The High Seas Treaty is critical to ensuring we can protect biodiversity in the ocean,” said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance. “We’re in the middle of a biodiversity and climate crisis. We absolutely have to protect the ocean to address those crises.”

But even in waters already designated as protected, enforcement often falls short. Many countries, France included, face criticism from environmental groups over weak regulation and continued industrial activity within their marine protected areas.

“The ambition is not there, the speed is not there, and the scale has not been there,” said Sílvia Tavares, project manager at Oceano Azul Foundation. “Moments like UNOC are key to changing that.”

Several countries are expected to announce new marine protected areas, or MPAs, during the conference, along with bans on bottom trawling and other destructive activities within their existing MPA networks.

The “Ocean Wonders” fleet will remain docked in Nice and open to the public until the conference concludes on June 13.