ABSTRACT
By 1982, low ozone concentrations had been found over Antarctica, and in 1984 the British Antarctic Survey found that there had been a thinning of the ozone layer. This discovery led to swift international action. March 1985 saw the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, and in September 1987 the first Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed. In the following year, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) production began to be phased out, and was ended completely in 1996 in the US and Europe, by which time the evidence for CFCs damaging the ozone layer was overwhelming. Although global CFC production only finally ended in 2010, its concentration in the atmosphere had been falling since 2000. The Montreal Protocol was successful because the serious and urgent nature of the problem was acknowledged, and because of the partnership and trust that was established between science, the chemical industry, and politicians from both economically developing and developed countries.
