Banked CFC-11 contributes to an unforeseen emission rise and sets back progress towards carbon neutrality

Abstract

An unexpected rise of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) emissions has undermined the efforts behind the Montreal Protocol. However, the sources of these increased emissions, from CFC-11 banks to unreported production, remain contentious. Here, we enhanced the bottom-up dynamic material flow analysis model to characterize the stocks and flows of CFC-11, retrospectively and prospectively from 1950 to 2100. We find that dynamic changes in bank-related emissions could have led to an increased CFC-11 emissions from 2014 to 2018, implying an overestimation of unreported production. Under Scenario 2 (mid-range unreported production levels), long-term emission of banked CFC-11 will accumulate to 980 (600-1500) kilotons (kt), equivalent to 4.7 (2.9-7.1) gigatons (Gt) CO2, between 2025 and 2100. Scenario analysis highlights the potential to reduce up to 50 % of emissions through optimized end-of-life (EoL) management strategies. Our results call for further investigation into the lifespan and EoL processes of products containing ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) to reconcile emission estimates derived from bottom-up and top-down modeling approaches. The modeling approach could also be applied to estimate and project the bank-related emissions and impacts of other ODSs.