Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2010

Chapter 5 Scientific Summary

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Chapter 5 Authors and Contributors

Scientific Summary Chapter 5: A Focus on Information and Options for Policymakers

Ozone Depletion Potentials (ODPs) and Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) are metrics frequently used to quantify the relative impacts of substances on ozone depletion and climate forcing. In Chapter 5, both ODPs and GWPs have been updated. The direct GWPs for some compounds presented here have not appeared previously in WMO/UNEP or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments. Indirect GWPs have also been re-evaluated.

Information for Policymakers

Options for Policymakers

A new baseline scenario for ODSs is presented in Chapter 5 that reflects our current understanding of atmospheric mixing ratios, production levels, and bank sizes. Elimination of future emissions, production, and banks of various ODSs are applied to this scenario to evaluate the maximum impacts of various hypothetical phase-outs (see Table S5-1). The year EESC returns to 1980 levels, and integrated EESC changes, are two metrics used in the evaluation. The calculations of the years when EESC returns to the 1980 level in these hypothetical cases do not consider other effects such as changing atmospheric transport and lifetimes. An elimination of anthropogenic N2O emissions is also considered and compared to some ODS cases using globally averaged total ozone. In addition to the hypothetical cases discussed below, the impacts on stratospheric ozone of other activities, such as the use of automotive biofuels, commercial subsonic aircraft, and rocket launches, are considered in Chapter 5. These other activities are not expected to substantially affect stratospheric ozone now or in the near future.

Table S5-1. Summary of hypothetical cases for accelerating the recovery of the ozone layer and reducing carbon-equivalent emissions.

The table below shows the reductions in integrated EESC and integrated CO2-eq emissions relative to the baseline (A1) scenario that can be achieved in several hypothetical cases. The EESC excess above 1980 levels is integrated from 2011 until the time EESC returns to the 1980 level (before 2050). Any potential contribution from very short-lived substances is neglected.

Substance or Group of Substances

Reductions (%) in Integrated EESC (equivalent effective stratospheric chlorine)Reduction in Cumulative GWP-Weighted Emissions from 2011 to 2050 (gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent)
Bank capture and destruction in 2011 and 2015:2011201520112015
CFCs117.07.95.5
Halons149.10.40.3
HCFCs4.85.3 14.95.5 1

Production elimination after 2010:
HCFCs8.813.2
CH3Br for quarantine and pre-shipment6.70.002

Total emissions elimination after 2010:
CCl4 27.60.9
CH3CCl30.10.004
HFCs0.0Up to 170 3

1 The impact of a 2015 HCFC bank recovery is larger than a 2011 bank recovery because this calculation assumes destruction of the bank in only a single year, and because the bank in 2015 is larger than the bank in 2011 owing to continued annual production that is larger than the annual bank release.
2 Banks are assumed to be zero. Emissions include uncertain sources such as possible fugitive emissions and unintended by-product emissions.
3 Strongly dependent on future projections and does not consider HFC-23 emissions. Currently HFCs are not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, but are included in the basket of gases of the Kyoto Protocol.