Skip to content
Suggest a term
FalseClimateLast updated: July 10, 2026

The ozone hole causes global warming

The ozone hole is caused by chlorofluorocarbons and related chemicals breaking down stratospheric ozone concentrated over Antarctica, a distinct and separate atmospheric phenomenon from global warming. Global warming is driven primarily by greenhouse gases trapping infrared radiation closer to Earth's surface, and the small amount of additional energy associated with the ozone hole is far too limited in scale to meaningfully explain the observed pattern of global temperature rise.

Written by Iggy Pomp · Reviewed by Igor Pomper · Last updated July 10, 2026

What we know

The ozone hole and global warming are two scientifically distinct atmospheric phenomena that are frequently and understandably confused in public discussion, in part because both involve human-caused atmospheric chemical changes, both were subjects of major international environmental concern and policy action during roughly overlapping historical periods, and both involve the broad, somewhat vague public category of "damage to the atmosphere," even though the specific chemistry, physics, and atmospheric layers involved are almost entirely separate between the two issues.

The ozone hole refers to a substantial seasonal thinning of the stratospheric ozone layer, occurring primarily over Antarctica during the Southern Hemisphere spring (roughly September through November), caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and related halogenated compounds that were widely used for decades in refrigeration, aerosol propellants, and industrial solvents. Once released into the atmosphere, these chemically stable compounds persist long enough to drift upward into the stratosphere, where intense ultraviolet radiation breaks them apart, releasing highly reactive chlorine and bromine atoms that catalytically destroy ozone molecules through a well-characterized chemical chain reaction, with each chlorine atom capable of destroying many thousands of ozone molecules before eventually being removed from the reactive cycle. This mechanism, along with the specific atmospheric conditions over Antarctica that intensify the effect, was identified and confirmed through direct atmospheric measurement and laboratory chemistry research beginning in the 1970s and 1980s.

Global warming operates through an entirely different physical mechanism, occurring predominantly in the troposphere, the lower atmospheric layer closest to Earth's surface where most weather occurs, rather than in the stratosphere where the ozone hole forms. It results from the accumulation of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion, along with methane, nitrous oxide, and other gases, which absorb and re-emit infrared radiation that would otherwise escape to space, trapping additional heat energy within Earth's lower atmosphere and surface system, a physical mechanism, the greenhouse effect, that has been understood in its basic physics since the 19th century and confirmed through extensive subsequent measurement and climate modeling.

Direct quantitative comparison of the energy involved in each phenomenon shows a very large difference in scale between them. Climate scientists have calculated the radiative forcing, a standard measure of the energy imbalance a given atmospheric change imposes on Earth's climate system, associated with ozone depletion and found it to be a small fraction of the radiative forcing attributable to accumulated greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, meaning that even though ozone depletion does have some genuine, measurable, and scientifically documented minor influence on regional climate and atmospheric circulation patterns, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, it is far too small in overall magnitude to serve as a plausible primary explanation for the global pattern of warming actually observed by climate scientists over the past century.

Some CFCs and related ozone-depleting substances are, notably, also potent greenhouse gases in their own right, a separate but related property that has sometimes fed further public confusion between the two issues, since a chemical class can genuinely contribute to global warming through its own direct greenhouse gas properties even while its ozone-destroying properties operate as an entirely separate mechanism affecting a different part of the atmosphere. The Montreal Protocol, the landmark 1987 international agreement that successfully phased out the production of most major ozone-depleting substances, is widely regarded by atmospheric scientists as one of the most successful environmental treaties in history, and it has produced measurable, well-documented ozone layer recovery in subsequent decades, an outcome scientifically distinct from, and not primarily responsible for addressing, the continued rise in global average temperature that remains driven predominantly by ongoing greenhouse gas emissions.

Common claims

  • The ozone hole is the main cause of global warming.Not supported
  • The ozone hole is caused by CFCs breaking down stratospheric ozone.Accurate
  • Global warming is driven mainly by greenhouse gases trapping heat near the surface.Accurate
  • The Montreal Protocol has helped the ozone layer recover.Accurate

Evidence hierarchy

01NASA and NOAA ozone hole monitoring and explainerDocuments CFC-driven ozone depletion mechanism over Antarctica.02IPCC radiative forcing comparison of ozone depletion versus greenhouse gasesQuantifies ozone depletion's much smaller radiative forcing contribution compared to CO2.03UNEP assessment of the Montreal Protocol's successDocuments measurable ozone layer recovery following the CFC phase-out.

All sources

Related terms

Climate has always changed, so humans aren't the causeVolcanoes emit more CO2 than humansMore CO2 is good because it is plant food