Photo Essay: Vanguard, Which Future Will You Choose?

This was the first protest at Vanguard’s office in Newtown Square since the firm ended its participation in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative last month.
Photo by EQAT.

About 50 people from across southeastern Pennsylvania braved the cold rain on Wednesday to protest outside of Vanguard’s offices in Newtown Square and challenge the asset manager to stop backtracking on its climate commitments. This was the largest protest at a Vanguard office since the firm quit a major climate commitment last month.

READ: Vanguard Deserves Coal This Christmas For Prioritizing Climate-Destroying Profits Over The Planet

image 18 - Bucks County Beacon - Photo Essay: Vanguard, Which Future Will You Choose?

And at Vanguard’s recent annual webinar for customers, called “A Look Ahead,” company leadership did not address leaving its climate commitments or even mention climate change-related investment risk. Demonstrators used the protest to offer an alternative “look ahead” for local communities if Vanguard continues to lag behind on climate-safe investing.

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This protest was part of Vanguard S.O.S., an international campaign made up of civil society organizations, finance experts, grassroots groups, and climate activists. Last year, local groups organized seventeen protests throughout southeastern Pennsylvania to highlight Vanguard’s toxic investments and call on the asset manager to invest for a livable future. 

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“Vanguard’s voting on environmental shareholder resolutions ranks at the bottom of the industry. When dozens of Vanguard’s peers do better year after year, it casts doubt on Vanguard’s excuses that it can’t do any better,” said Ryan Leitner, Director of Organizing at Earth Quaker Action Team. “Vanguard’s own peers show that it can do better, and we showed up in action to say that it must do better.”

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A detailed explanation of solutions that the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign is calling for can be found here: https://vanguard-sos.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/VanguardSOS-Demands.pdf

READ: Vanguard Group must stop financing the planet’s destruction

Other groups represented at the action include Fossil Free Penn and Fridays for Future Philadelphia.

image 19 - Bucks County Beacon - Photo Essay: Vanguard, Which Future Will You Choose?

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Earth Quaker Action Team

Earth Quaker Action Team (www.eqat.org) is a grassroots, nonviolent action group including Quakers and people of diverse beliefs, who join with millions of people around the world fighting for a just and sustainable economy. EQAT's actions nonviolently confront the people who benefit from the current energy system, boldly challenging them to turn away from fossil fuels.

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