A ray of hope for the ozone layer

Efforts to replace toxic chemicals with less harmful ones have begun to pay off

The earth’s protective ozone layer is recovering! In a Un-backed report released last week titled Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018 — which monitors the recovery of the ozone — has stated that the collaborative efforts of the signatory countries of the Montreal Protocol have helped heal the ozone layer, providing a ray of hope for climate change. These reports are carried out once every four years under the aforementioned protocol. If this commitment continues to be kept, the gaping hole in the Antarctic should disappear by the 2060s.

To begin with, the biggest cause of the depletion of ozone layer was the presence of various ozone-depleting substances (ODS) like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS) and halons which constitute the CFC-11 emissions, and were ultimately banned in 2010. Between then and now, the efforts to replace these chemicals with less harmful ones like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS) have begun to pay off. India and China are big users of HFCS due to their population. Finalised in 1987, the Montreal Protocol has been hailed as the one of the most successful and effective environmental treaties ever negotiated and implemented, aimed solely at preventing the depletion of the ozone layer and protecting humans from the ultraviolet rays of the sun.

The beauty of treaties like this one is that the onus remains on the individual country while the environmental effects remain global, pushing countries to do their best to ensure compliance, a litmus test of each country’s commitment to climate change. We must ensure that our development goals are sustainable and do not hinder this movement. Our future depends on it.

For all the disagreement in the industry about the future of aviation, there’s perfect accord on one point: There’s going to be a lot more of it. The world’s air passengers flew a combined 7.64 trillion kilometers (4.75 trillion miles) in 2017, according to Boeing Co.’s latest 20-year market outlook. By 2037, that will rise to 18.97 trillion kilometres, with about 40% of the increase happening within five intra-regional markets: China, India, North America, Europe and Southeast Asia.

That’s sparking a battle over the biggest bottleneck holding back this growth: airports. The governments that still own many of them should be more open to privatisation to cover a $78 billion funding gap in needed capital investments, the Airports Council International, an industry group, argued in a report earlier this year.

Airlines, airports’ biggest customers, see things differently: Costs at privatised terminals are higher and governments should be cautious about such actions in the interests of expanding the aviation sector as a whole, the carriers’ body, the International Air Transport Association, argued the same month.

Privatising an airport doesn’t necessarily make it more efficient. One 2008 study found there was little difference between the performance of airports 100%-owned by commercially-oriented government corporations and