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Chlorofluorocarbons

Map No. 303

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Chlorofluorocarbons, often abbreviated to CFCs, have two major negative environmental effects: they deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming. These chemicals have been used in industry, including refrigerators and dry cleaning. The Montreal Protocol, operative since 1989, was designed to phase out ozone-depleting substances. This map shows the estimated 110 thousand tonnes of CFCs emitted in 2002.

The CFC map shows not where CFCs are produced, but where there are the most which have not been accounted for and presumably safely dealt with.

"It is not a hole in the literal sense because ozone still exists over the continent but significant amounts of the gas are destroyed in this area because of the temperature and presence of damaging gases such as chlorofluorocarbons ..." Alok Jha, 2006

Territory size shows the proportion of chlorofluorocarbons unaccounted for worldwide, that may be emitted there.

• Open PDF poster, designed for printing. You need Acrobat Reader.
• View labelled territory map or population map for comparison
• Data files: Excel (large with map), Excel (small no map), Opendoc format (see notes)
• Technical notes for this data.
• High Resolution image (see copyright conditions)
• All of the data we use is estimated; see data page