The CFC ban offered hope in tackling climate change.

The international ban on ozone-depleting chemicals in 1987 may have helped avert a climate catastrophe already, scientists said this week.

A study found that global surface temperatures could have risen by a further 1 degree Celsius this century without the ban, putting the planet on a dangerous path to climate breakdown.

CFC chemicals were used in fridges, hairspray and styrofoam packaging. But they were found to be creating a hole in the ozone layer, which protects Earth from UV rays. The decision to outlaw them was described by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan as “perhaps the single most successful international agreement”.