The world banned the chemicals eating the ozone layer almost 40 years ago, and the fix is working. The Antarctic hole is now about 30% smaller than its 2006 record. Full repair still takes most of a lifetime, because CFCs stay in the air for decades.
That is the projected date in the WMO/UNEP 2022 Scientific Assessment, almost 80 years after the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987.
Ozone is measured in Dobson units: the thickness the whole column would have if squeezed to sea-level pressure. 100 DU equals one millimetre. Below 220 DU, scientists call it a hole.
Average size of the ozone hole each southern spring (Sept 7 to Oct 13), in million km². It grew fast through the 1980s, peaked in 2006, and is now shrinking slowly and unevenly.
Average hole area in selected years, compared with Antarctica itself (≈14.2 million km²).
Projected year that total-column ozone returns to its 1980 level, if today's policies hold.
These are modeled “avoided” harms: the difference between the world with the Montreal Protocol and the world without it.
The ozone layer is the clearest proof that a global treaty can reverse planetary damage. It also shows how long the payback takes.
Old fridges, freezers and AC units can still hold CFCs and HFCs. Use certified recovery when you scrap them. Don't vent them.
The 2016 Kigali Amendment is phasing down HFCs. Fully followed, it cuts expected HFC warming by 2100 from 0.3–0.5°C to under 0.1°C.
The Antarctic hole will reopen every spring for decades. Until ozone recovers, sun protection still matters, especially at high southern latitudes.
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