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1987 international treaty that phased out ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs; its 2016 Kigali Amendment extends it to phasing down climate-warming HFCs.
Leaked refrigerant accounts for roughly one-third of cooling's climate impact worldwide, according to scientists writing on phys.org. Electricity is responsible for the rest, so the refrigerant label is only part of a purchase decision.
Reality
Antarctica's ozone hole reached 27.4 million square kilometres in September, a size topped only in 2000 and 2015. Its forecasters blame a cold, strong polar vortex, so the size says little about the Montreal Protocol until the weather's share is measured.
Reality
The annual Planetary Health Check counts seven of nine boundaries transgressed, ocean acidification among them since 2025, and puts carbon dioxide at 426 parts per million against 280 before industrialisation. More than 60 scientists signed it.
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The World Meteorological Organization's new bulletin puts the Antarctic hole below its long-term average for a second year running, and the researchers reading the same data disagree about whether the recovery is on schedule.
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UC Santa Barbara and Tsinghua authors argue in Science that the first plastics treaty text needs standardized labeling, measurement practices and national data repositories. Their paper feeds a workshop in Geneva on Sept. 16-17.
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