US Quakers witness as Vanguard drops climate alliance
‘The choice to continue to invest in fossil fuels or transition to a clean energy economy shouldn’t be about politics or short-term profits.'
US Quakers have criticised one of the biggest investors in fossil fuels for withdrawing from its most significant climate commitment.
Around fifty members of the Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) went to Vanguard’s Philadelphia offices to protest its withdrawal from the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative. The group brandished placards to raise awareness of the abandoned alliance, whose members have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The witness aimed ‘to remind company leadership of the real-life stakes of their decision’, Sade M Nickels wrote on the EQAT website. ‘The choice to continue to invest in fossil fuels or transition to a clean energy economy shouldn’t be about politics or short-term profits; it’s a choice with long-term consequences for our lives and the people and places we love.’
The group was greeted by cross-armed security personnel, a security vehicle, and a police car. ‘We arrived with song and prayer and peace, but were quickly ushered away from the entrance.’ Reconvening close by, ‘the curb could not curb our enthusiasm’, writes Sade.
Vanguard said the alliance’s vigorous commitment to fighting climate change had resulted ‘in confusion about the views of individual investment firms’ and it wanted to reassure investors that it was acting ‘independently’.
The Vanguard Group has $7 trillion in assets, at least $86 billion of which is tied up in coal, along with billions in oil and gas, and stakes in deforestation-linked agriculture and military contracts.
NZAM was founded in December 2020 and had 291 members, including most of the world’s largest global asset managers.
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