Climate agreements show effect Ozone hole continues to shrink
Every year, the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic closes again, and not for a long time as early as 2025. Researchers are expressing hope - and the assumption that international climate agreements are having an effect.
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- The hole in the ozone layer closed on Monday.
- This is the fastest closure of the 2020s.
- Researchers see the fact that the hole in the ozone layer is closing earlier and expanding less as a positive sign.
- They attribute the development to a climate agreement from the 1980s.
The ozone hole season is already over: this year, the ozone hole over the Antarctic closed on December 1, 2025. This is remarkably early and the fastest closure so far in the 2020s, reports Der Spiegel.
This development gives researchers hope: the ozone hole appears to be recovering. In its report, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), which is operated by the European Union, describes the development as a "pioneering example of ecological cooperation".
According to CAMS Director Laurence Rouil, the earlier closure and smaller expansion of the ozone hole is due to the continuing decline in ozone-depleting chemicals, above all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) previously contained in refrigerators and aerosols.
CFCs banned in 1987
Ozone-depleting chemicals were gradually banned in 1987 by a multilateral environmental agreement known as the Montreal Protocol. The improvement in the ozone hole "is a good example of what is possible when the world acts together", continued Rouil.
In 2025, the maximum value of the ozone hole was 21 million square kilometers. That was in September. In comparison: in 2023, the maximum extent was 26 million square kilometers.
Scientists estimate that the hole in the ozone layer, which can be responsible for skin cancer and crop losses, among other things, will be completely closed by the middle of the current decade. By 2040, it should be back to the level of 1980.
