Ozone pact helped cool the planet

A slowdown in global warming that climate sceptics cite in favour of their cause was partly induced by one of the world’s most successful environment treaties.

The United Nation’s Montreal Protocol, designed to phase out industrial gases that destroy Earth’s protective ozone layer, coincidentally applied a small brake to the planet’s warming, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Without this treaty, Earth’s surface temperature would be roughly 0.1°C higher today.