China factories releasing thousands of tonnes of illegal CFC gases, study finds

Levels of ozone-depleting gas spiked when air from industrialised areas of China arrived, say researchers

Industries in north-eastern China have released large quantities of an ozone-depleting gas into the atmosphere in violation of an international treaty, scientists have said.

Since 2013, annual emissions of the banned chemical Chlorofluorocarbon-11 (CFC-11) from that region have increased by about 7,000 tonnes, according to a report in peer-reviewed journal Nature.