89 Percent Project
Type: General
Solution Areas: Art & Storytelling
Between 80 and 89% of the world’s people want their governments to be doing more to address climate change.
The 89 Percent Project is a year-long global journalistic effort to explore a pivotal but little-known fact about climate change: The overwhelming majority of the world’s people — between 80 and 89%, according to recent science — want governments to take stronger action. But that fact is not reflected in our news coverage, which helps explain why the 89% don’t know that they are the global majority. The 89 Percent Project launched in April 2025 with a CCNow Joint Coverage Week focused on the people who comprise this silent climate majority.
The next phase began October 26, when newsrooms around the world put faces behind the numbers: Who are the 89%? How do their numbers vary across countries and gender and generational lines? What kinds of action do they want governments to take?
Ambitious plans are already underway. The Guardian, our lead partner in the 89 Percent Project, already has launched a call-out soliciting stories from their readers. Other newsrooms like Japan’s Asahi Shimbun and Brazil’s Agência Pública are planning to participate, as are Time magazine and Rolling Stone. In addition, CCNow will soon be sending out thousands of postcards to people soliciting their 89 Percent stories.
