India Is Helping Heal The Ozone Hole, But Faces Another Ozone Battle Back Home

The ozone layer, 15–30 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, acts as a shield against the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation. Without it, people would face soaring rates of skin cancer and cataracts, crops would fail, and marine ecosystems would collapse.

The culprit was human-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigeration, air-conditioning, and spray cans. These compounds, stable at ground level, break down in the upper atmosphere, releasing chlorine atoms that destroy ozone molecules.

In response, governments came together to sign the Montreal Protocol in 1987. It remains the only United Nations treaty ratified by all 198 member states, and is widely considered history’s most successful environmental agreement. 

India’s Commitment

India joined the Protocol in 1992, at a time when CFC use was widespread in its industries. Since then, it has eliminated 99 per cent of ozone-depleting substances (ODS), meeting every phase-out target on time. This was made possible through a mix of industrial transition, international finance, and national planning.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change calls it a “success story”. One that saw India shift entire sectors, from foam and pharmaceuticals to refrigeration, away from CFCs and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Today, India is implementing an accelerated phase-out of HCFCs, with a complete ban due by 2030.

The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP), launched in 2019, goes further. It sets a roadmap to reduce cooling demand by up to 25–30 per cent by 2037, improve energy efficiency, and transition to climate-friendly refrigerants. This is crucial, as India’s cooling demand is projected to grow eight-fold in the next decade, driven by rising incomes and hotter cities.

The Sky Is Healing, Not Healed

Thanks to the Montreal Protocol, the worst has been avoided. NASA and the World Meteorological Organisation report that the ozone layer is on track to recover to 1980 levels by 2066 over Antarctica, and even earlier, by the 2040s, over India and other mid-latitude regions.

Every spring, however, the Antarctic ozone hole still appears. In 2024, its average size was nearly 20 million square kilometres. That’s smaller than the peaks of the late 1990s and 2000s, when the hole often exceeded 25 million square kilometres, but it remains a visible reminder of a planetary wound slowly healing.

The Montreal Protocol is credited with preventing millions of cases of skin cancer. UNEP estimates it will save two million lives per year from skin cancer by 2030. Without the treaty, ozone depletion would have been ten times worse by mid-century.

We Have Ozone At Home

Yet while the stratospheric ozone hole is healing, India faces a different, more immediate problem: surface-level ozone.

Unlike stratospheric ozone, which protects life, ground-level ozone is a harmful pollutant. It is not directly emitted, but formed when nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), largely from vehicles, power plants, and industry,  react under sunlight. In India’s polluted cities, this means ozone is often highest on hot, sunny afternoons.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has repeatedly flagged ozone as one of the most problematic urban pollutants. During the summer of 2023, for example, Delhi and several northern cities recorded ozone levels above the national safe limits for weeks. High surface ozone damages crops like wheat and rice, reduces lung function, and aggravates asthma.

In a sense, India has helped heal one ozone crisis, the hole above Antarctica, while grappling with another at home, one tied more closely to urban smog and climate change.

Lessons From Global Cooperation

The Montreal Protocol worked because it combined clear science, strong political will, and financial assistance to poorer countries. It also required industries to innovate, creating alternatives to CFCs and HCFCs.

India’s next challenge which is phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the current generation of refrigerants is even tougher. HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, but they are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the climate. Under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, India will begin cutting HFC use from 2028.

The ozone story shows that coordinated policy can avert planetary disaster. As climate negotiations falter, the healing ozone layer is proof that collective action works. But for India, the task is double: keep playing its part in sealing the Antarctic hole, while tackling the ozone pollution choking its cities.