“You are not alone. Far from it. If you are concerned about the climate crisis and want your national government to do something about it, you are part of an enormous global majority.”
So wrote Jonathan Watts in a piece Sumaúma published on Monday declaring that the Amazon-based news outlet was joining Covering Climate Now’s 89 Percent Project. The 89 Percent Project launched with a Joint Coverage Week on April 21 and continues through 2025 with another Joint Coverage Week coming before the COP30 climate summit in November.
That summit will take place in Brazil, making the perspective of Sumaúma particularly relevant during the months ahead. Named after one of the largest trees in the rainforest and staffed by Indigenous as well as western journalists, Sumaúma’s reporting is grounded in the conviction that “the most important centers of a planet experiencing climate collapse are not Washington or Beijing … [but rather] the enclaves of life on which our survival depends — the oceans, tropical rainforests and other diverse biomes.”
“Almost nine out of every ten people on the planet share [the opinion that stronger climate action is needed],” Watts wrote, adding, “You would never believe that from skewed social media, conservative news organisations or politicians of almost all stripes. They would have you think that climate action is unpopular, expensive and a worry only for a radical clique…. This ruse needs to be called out. And the best way to do that is to show that reality is completely different: The world wants change.”
Another new 89 Percent partner comes from Denmark, where digital news site Zetland on Monday republished one of the project’s anchor pieces: “Spiral of Silence” by The Guardian’s Damian Carrington.
Founded in 2016 by four former legacy media journalists determined to “make news less stupid and journalism more beneficial to society,” Zetland developed an ad-free business model “that is funded, supported, and driven forward by its members.” It has been financially sustainable since 2019, the same year it was named Europe’s best news app.
Not many news outlets in today’s world enjoy financial sustainability, a status Zetland attributes to listening to the thousands of “citizens who choose to contribute to [our] mission. We exist to give meaning to their lives and improve the public conversation.” Among the principles that guide Zetland’s journalism are: “We do not contribute to information overload: we focus on the defining issues of our time, not on what happened five minutes ago.” And another principle: “We fight cynicism and search for solutions.”
Sumaúma and Zetland exemplify a core mission of CCNow’s since our founding in 2019: helping journalists and news outlets around the world learn from and work with one another. The 89 Percent Project carries that mission forward by focusing on the overwhelming global majority that wants stronger climate action and hasn’t seen itself reflected in most reporting to date. The need for accurate, empowering news coverage of the climate emergency and its solutions has never been more urgent. We invite fellow journalists and newsrooms everywhere to join us.
