The Future of Life Institute today announced that IGSD’s Director of Research Dr. Stephen O. Andersen has been selected for the Future of Life Award, alongside Dr. Susan Solomon and late Joseph Farman, for their dedicated efforts to protect the stratospheric ozone layer. Their efforts are recognized for helping make the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, signed in 1987, the most successful international treaty in history. 

As the world enters a crucial phase in the battle to combat climate change, International Ozone Day reminds us that the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is not only saving the stratospheric ozone layer and keeping us safe from harmful ultraviolet radiation but is also doing more than any other agreement to slow catastrophic global warming. As we celebrate the achievements of this planet-saving treaty, we also need to realize how much remains to be done.

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the Circular on Controlling the Emissions of HFC-23 By-products in advance of World Ozone Day. The Circular was issued as part of China’s efforts to implement the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

In the context of flash flooding in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, devastating fires out West in California, and Hurricane Ida ripping through Louisiana, IGSD President Durwood Zaelke answers the question, aren’t these exactly the kind of scenes that scientists say the world would see more of because of the climate change caused by humans?