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New Report Summarizes Ozone Layer Protection

Release Date: 04/26/2007
Contact Information: John Millett, (202) 564-4355 / [email protected]

(Washington, D.C. - April 26, 2007) After nearly 20 years of international treaty protection, the six-mile-high ozone layer that shields the earth from harmful solar rays is on the road to recovery, but challenges remain, EPA reports. Achievements in Stratospheric Ozone Protection: Progress Report highlights U.S. contributions toward healing the ozone layer.

"We could not have made this progress without the collaboration of our partners from all sectors of our economy," said Bill Wehrum, EPA acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. "These partnerships have spurred progress in technology development and deployment that is protecting the ozone layer, saving energy, and preventing emissions of greenhouse gases."

The report recognizes the substantial and successful investments of the many collaborators who have worked towards protecting and restoring the ozone layer. The ozone layer has not grown thinner over most of the world since 1998, according to the report, and the Antarctic ozone level is projected to return to pre-1980 levels between 2060 and 2075.

The report also recognizes the substantial and successful investments of the many collaborators who have worked toward protecting and restoring the ozone layer.

In 1999, U.S. EPA estimated substantial benefits from the United States' work to restore the ozone layer, including:

• By 2165, actions to protect and restore the ozone layer were projected to save 6.3 million U.S. lives that would otherwise have been lost to skin cancer.
• Every dollar invested in ozone protection is estimated to provide $20 of societal health benefits in the United States.
• Protecting the stratospheric ozone layer is estimated to produce $4.2 trillion in societal health benefits over the period 1990 to 2165.
• Additionally, since many ozone-depleting substances are also greenhouse gases, replacing these substances with substitutes that are safer for the ozone layer can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.