'EQAT is urging Friends to write to the board asking that they recruit someone who puts the climate first.' Photo: Vanguard protest, courtesy of EQAT
Quakers call for green Vanguard CEO
‘Vanguard Group has the opportunity to stop caving to the short-term greed of dirty energy companies, steer the company safely through long-term risk, and help secure a livable future.'
The Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) is calling on the financial giant Vanguard to pick a ‘climate champion’ for its next CEO. The call came after it was announced that the current CEO, Tim Buckley, is retiring. EQAT is urging Friends to write to the board asking that they recruit someone who puts the climate first.
‘Vanguard Group has the opportunity to stop caving to the short-term greed of dirty energy companies, steer the company safely through long-term risk, and help secure a livable future. And we have the opportunity to make sure it does so,’ the EQAT team said over social media.
‘Under Tim Buckley’s leadership, Vanguard has caved to right wing politicians and failed to adequately address the material risks of climate change – thus putting Vanguard clients’ investments at risk,’ said Lina Blount, director of strategy and partnerships at EQAT, which has staged multiple actions at Vanguard’s headquarters.
The call is in line with the ‘Stop the Money Pipeline’ campaign, which argues that, ‘Buckley’s six-year stint as the head of one of the world’s largest asset managers oversaw achievements such as quitting the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, voting in favour of only 2% of environmental and social shareholder resolutions at the companies with which Vanguard holds proxy voting power, and taking the top spot as the world’s number one investor in fossil fuels.’
The leadership transition is seen as an opportunity by the Vanguard S.O.S. network, which consists of civil society organisations and financial experts pushing Vanguard to right the course on climate risk.
Last year Tim Buckley defended his decision to pull out of the industry-wide Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, saying the group’s ‘voice was being drowned out’. ‘It would be hubris to presume that we know the right strategy for the thousands of companies that Vanguard invests with,’ he said.
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