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Tag: ozone-layer

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Climate, conflict and synthetic fertilisers are sowing the seeds of instability

As the latest rupture in an increasingly unstable geopolitical landscape, military strikes on Iran by the USA and Israel will likely increase pressure on the world’s ability to feed itself – and it begins with synthetic fertilisers. It is barely more than century since the Haber-Bosch process was developed and the industrial production of ammonia […]

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Reflections on Paris + 10

Ten years ago, on 12 December 2015, 195 governments adopted the Paris Agreement at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (CoP21). A decade on, it is time for both reflection and renewal.

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Four before Forty – four challenges for the Montreal Protocol on World Ozone Day 2025

It’s almost 100 years since Thomas Midgley Jr. first synthesised chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). It was 1928 and he was working for General Motors, looking for a safe refrigerant to avoid using flammable or toxic alternatives. General Motors and Dupont soon began producing ‘Freon’ chemicals, which quickly dominated the market for refrigerants and also found wide use […]

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Fit for 40? Celebrating the Vienna Convention and facing the challenges threatening its legacy

Saturday (22 March) is the 40-year anniversary of the signing of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, an achievement which has stood for four decades as an inspiration for multilateral environmental action. The Vienna Convention was established in response to scientific evidence that man-made chemicals, particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were causing significant […]

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N₂O: No laughing matter

Following the launch of a deeply concerning new assessment on the alarming increase in emissions from the ‘forgotten greenhouse gas’ - what should be done to avert a global catastrophe?