Climate journalists around the world broke a big story last week. “Broke” may seem a strange word for a story that involved no investigative sleuthing or insider revelations. But “breaking news” can also apply to delivering people with information about the world around them that’s new to them. That’s what dozens of major newspapers, magazines, TV networks, and other outlets — in Asia, Europe, and the Americas — did during the first Joint Coverage Week of Covering Climate Now’s 89 Percent Project.
A year-long global news initiative led by The Guardian and Agence France-Presse, The 89 Percent Project launched on Monday, April 21 and ran through Monday, April 28. In the coming days, we’ll tally the full reach and impact of the week, but the initial results and feedback we’ve received are extraordinary.
Damian Carrington, The Guardian’s environment editor, wrote stories examining the scientific basis of the pivotal but previously overlooked fact that the overwhelming majority of the world’s people — between 80 and 89% — want their governments to take stronger climate action. This majority, however, doesn’t realize it’s the majority, perhaps because that fact hasn’t been reflected in most news coverage or on social media, which led CCNow’s Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope, also in The Guardian, to label this group “the silent climate majority.”
In Japan’s newspaper of record, The Asahi Shimbun, senior staff writer Keisuke Katori examined why people in his country, though heavily in favor of decarbonizing the economy, believe the process will be slow and costly. AFP and the global broadcaster Deutsche Welle ran stories highlighting some of the reasons why people want stronger climate action, including governments’ failures to prioritize climate protection even after disasters struck and affordable housing growing scarcer due to climate impacts. In the US, anchor Vanessa Hauc of the Spanish language TV network Telemundo interviewed CCNow’s Elena Gonzalez, who pointed out that support for climate action is especially strong in developing countries, where four out of five of the world’s people live.
Outlets from more than 20 countries ran stories exploring related themes; their reporting in turn got other news organizations talking about the climate majority as well. Writing in The Times of India, the world’s largest circulation English-language newspaper, reporter Neel Kamal noted that 80% of Indians want their government to do more, adding that scientists have said humanity already has the tools needed to halt climate change. The BBC News World Service’s Weekend program interviewed Teodora Boneva, who co-authored one of the scientific studies that spurred The 89 Percent Project. In an interview on BBC’s Newsnight program, Carla Denyer, a co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, cited the 89% findings — one example among many of the Project’s message catching on beyond the community of climate journalists.
Until last week, the 89% story had been sitting, unnoticed, in the open. Scientific studies that gave rise to the Project had been published in peer-reviewed journals; yet save for a news item here and there, that body of science had passed by unremarked upon. Certainly, it had no visible effect on how the media as a whole understood the climate story and thus framed its coverage. and because the media didn’t talk about the global climate majority, virtually nobody else knew about it either — not the majority itself, not its political leaders, not the activists demanding action. The 89 Percent Project has ended that silence.
Last week’s launch is just the beginning. There remains much more to explore about this potentially game-changing development in the climate story, and the 89 Percent Project will continue throughout 2025, culminating at the COP30 summit in November.
After many years of framing the climate story as one of division and despair — and unintentionally driving readers, viewers and listeners away — the media now has an opportunity to write a fresh chapter of the climate story, one that’s still grounded in science and can instead attract audiences as the climate majority sees that we hear them and want to know what they have to say. If you or your news outlet want to get involved with The 89 Percent Project, please get in touch at editors@coveringclimatenow.org.
From Us
Climate science 101. Want to get up to speed on climate science basics? Join us for a free training session next Wednesday, May 7, at 12pm US Eastern Time with David Dickson, CCNow’s resident meteorologist and Local TV engagement manager. RSVP.
Locally Sourced newsletter. The latest edition of our biweekly newsletter for local journalists looks into public support for government action on climate. Check out the Locally Sourced archive and sign up to get it every other Tuesday.
Noteworthy Stories
Canceled report. The Trump administration has dismissed the scientists who work on the National Climate Assessment. Released every four years, the congressionally-mandated report is a comprehensive review of the regional impacts that climate change is having on the US. From Rebecca Hersher for NPR…
Aloha climate tax. Hawai‘i’s state legislature will vote this week on a bill to levy a tax for tourists staying in hotels and vacation rentals that would go toward paying for climate projects intended to adapt to the local climate impacts. If the measure passes it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. By Audrey McAvoy for the Associated Press…
Aging, accelerated. Exposure to heat is likely to accelerate aging, according to a German study published in Environment International. Even 1 degree Celsius of increased heat has been linked to increased aging. Heat strains bodies in a number of ways, including reducing kidney function and impairing cognitive function. By Sanket Jain for Yale Climate Connections…
Thanks to the states. The US federal government has long been delinquent on climate action, but across the country, state efforts have helped cut cumulative emissions by more than a billion tons annually since 2000. Climate action remains popular among voters, and although the Trump administration is working to dismantle state-level climate progress, progressive states are staying the course. By Matt Simon for Grist…
Quote of the Week
“This is what happens when news organizations are just small divisions of massive entertainment conglomerates.”
– Parker Molloy, ‘The Present Age’ Substack, regarding networks’ accommodations to the Trump administration and Bill Owens’s departure from CBS News’s 60 Minutes
Dispatch #4 from the Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation
For the next few months, we’ll periodically share standout insights from the Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation, a collaboration between CCNow and the Solutions Journalism Network. This is the third.
Journalism often struggles to tell the story of social change. We position it as a set of discrete actions, framed by the most extreme and provocative events and quotes. As a result, we sometimes make change look more radical or disruptive than it would be. People read stories of social change and think about what they will lose, rather than what might be improved or preserved.
But covering social change more fully takes time and dedication; it requires building trust, listening deeply, chronicling the process (not just the major events) and — yes — holding activists accountable in the same way we would government officials.
“Reporters have a responsibility to cover such movements,” writes Jennifer Oldham, “with the same consistency, intentionality and rigor devoted to corporate or government news.”
Resources, Events, Etc.
GIJN’s ‘Guide to Investigating Fossil Fuels.’ The Global Investigative Journalism Network has a new guide to “provide [journalists] context and practical advice to enable better investigations of the fossil fuel industry.” The guide, authored by leading climate and investigative journalists, comprises six subject-specific chapters, including on government regulations and policies, uncovering lobbying efforts, and greenwashing and disinformation.
Shifting planting zones. Climate Central has released a new seasonal guide, “Warming Planting Zones,” complete with local data and graphics, that looks at how climate zones have shifted in the last 30 years and breaks down predictions for the next 30 years. This kind of guide can help support all kinds of reporting, including interviews and deep reporting about farming and agriculture.
Jobs, Opportunities, Etc.
National & large organizations. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is hiring a Director of Editorial Programs (remote). Capital & Main is hiring an executive editor (Los Angeles). The Nation is hiring an editorial intern (New York preferred; apply by May 7).
Local & smaller outlets. ProPublica–Texas Tribune Initiative is hiring a reporter (Austin, Texas; apply by May 2). KPBS Public Media is hiring an Environment Reporter (San Diego, apply by May 15). The Boulder Reporting Lab is hiring a managing editor (Boulder, Colo.). The Bangor Daily News is hiring an outdoors editor (Bangor, Maine).
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