Sept. 28 marks the fourth annual World News Day, a global campaign to display support for journalists and highlight the critical role of fact-based journalism in making the world a better place.

This year, World News Day 2021 will focus on the climate crisis. More than 460 news organizations across six continents have joined this year’s initiative to tell the story of how climate change is impacting the lives and livelihoods of communities around the world.

Reporting on climate change has never been more important. Over the past summer, more than 600 people died from heat-related illnesses in British Columbia. The town of Lytton, B.C. set a Canadian temperature record of 49.6C. Meanwhile, a United Nations report released in August found that climate change is proceeding at a faster pace and producing widespread effects that are more definitively tied to human influence than ever before.

“Climate change has long been a political football, to be kicked around by different viewpoints… while everyone is entitled to an opinion, facts are sacred and cannot be bent,” says Globe and Mail editor-in-chief and World News Day founder, David Walmsley.

“Instead of polarisation, fact-based journalism offers something much more precious. It offers solutions. And that is the intention of World News Day – to showcase our audiences, and what journalism is doing to respond to their demands.”

On September 28, actor Victor Garber and journalist Farah Nasser will host World News Day: The Climate Crisis. The flagship virtual event will spotlight a striking collection of climate stories from a selection of the world’s biggest news organizations – highlighting regional climate change issues, activism and solutions.

The 75-minute event is free, open to a global audience and available in all time zones.

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