The United Nations has announced that the hole in the ozone layer, once humanity's most feared environmental hazard, is expected to be completely repaired in most of the world within two decades, thanks to decisive action by many governments to 'phase out emissions of depleting pollutants.

The ozone layer, which has put people at risk of being exposed to the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, is on track to be fully recovered by 2040 over much of the world, while it will be fully recreated by 2045 over the Arctic and by 2066 over Antarctica. During the observations, it was confirmed that the ozone hole that forms over Antarctica every year is shrinking. This year, it reached 23.2 million square kilometers between September 7 and October 13, a slightly smaller area than the previous year, confirming the closure trend observed over the last twenty years.

The data, obtained using NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites, also show that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano in the Pacific Ocean, which occurred in January 2022 and was expected to have a negative impact on the size of the hole, appears to have had no effect. The same did not happen in 1991, with the eruption of the Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines, which instead exacerbated ozone layer depletion due to large amounts of sulfur dioxide released.