On Eve of Vanguard Shareholder Meeting, Protestors Show Up in CEO’s Neighborhood

Years-Long Campaign Has Targeted Vanguard as the World’s Largest Investor in Fossil Fuels

Philadelphia, PA –– Today, a group of human and environmental rights defenders arrived to a bustling Rittenhouse Square, sat down in folding chairs arranged in rows, unfurled large banners with messages like “Vanguard invests in climate destruction,” and held a Quaker-style Meeting for Worship service. They were there as part of a global campaign, Vanguard S.O.S., which has been active since 2021 and is calling on Vanguard, the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels, to invest sustainably. Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji’s nearby home could be seen from the protest as participants prayed that he lead the asset manager to do better on environmental issues.

Tomorrow, Vanguard will hold its shareholder meeting to approve its funds’ trustees. Unlike publicly traded companies, Vanguard does not have annual shareholder meetings. The last time it had a shareholder meeting was in 2017, and before that, in 2009, happening approximately every eight years.

Vanguard invests about $444 billion dollars of its customers’ savings in coal, oil, and gas. Campaigners including Stop the Money Pipeline members, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), and Quaker Earthcare Witness, who organized today’s action, claim that Vanguard should use its influence as a powerful shareholder to encourage the companies it invests in to do better on environmental issues, and to exit its investments in fossil fuel companies that refuse to transition their businesses to be in alignment with no more than a 1.5 degree global temperature rise. Last year, Vanguard did not support any of the 400 environmental or social shareholder proposals its stewardship team voted on.

How much asset managers should influence their portfolio companies is a hotly contested topic in the United States. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a new rule that would make asset managers, like Vanguard, file more extensive paperwork about all of the portfolio companies they influence through shareholder engagement. In response, Vanguard temporarily paused its engagement activities as company leadership figures out what to do with this new rule.

Meanwhile, Vanguard’s own clients have demanded it take action on climate change, and even raised concerns about a breach of fiduciary duty. Additionally, last fall, Stop the Money Pipeline’s Investors Campaign Manager, Nancy Treviño, hand delivered a letter to Vanguard Board Member Grant Reid’s home requesting a meeting. The letter went unanswered.

According to a 2021 report, Vanguard could lose at least $3 trillion by 2050 if it fails to act on the climate crisis. The world stands to lose close to 10% of total economic value by mid-century if climate change stays on the currently-anticipated trajectory, and if the Paris Agreement 2050 net-zero emissions targets are not met.

See photos from the event here.

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In The News, Press Release

Press Release: On Eve of Vanguard Shareholder Meeting, Protestors Show Up in CEO’s Neighborhood

On Eve of Vanguard Shareholder Meeting, Protestors Show Up in CEO’s Neighborhood

Years-Long Campaign Has Targeted Vanguard as the World’s Largest Investor in Fossil Fuels