If you’re an employee, Vanguard doesn’t want you to read this. That’s why the company censored this website on company devices. But we think this is an important message anyway.
Vanguard likes to remind you that your core purpose is “to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success”. This message is consistently repeated to employees because Vanguard management knows you have the power to impact millions of customers’ savings.
We aren’t Vanguard employees, but we are Vanguard customers. We formed Vanguard S.O.S. in order to help Vanguard mitigate climate risk and lead the transition to the necessary zero emissions economy. We are organizing even more customers, employees and investors/owners of Vanguard who all want the company to take more action on climate.
You know this well, Vanguard invests for the long-term. But for too long, the investment industry has funded fossil fuel projects, driving high but short-term returns. This is no longer sustainable. The top experts across scientific fields, including at the United Nations, agree that in order to have a fighting chance, the planet needs to cut global coal, oil and gas emissions in half by 2030.
Stewarding customers’ money through this transition is a lot of work, an all-hands-on-deck moment. This website exists to inform people, including Vanguard employees, about how investments are impacting the planet and how Vanguard can change course. Yet Vanguard management is trying to prevent you and your colleagues from even reading our website.
Chances are that if you go to this website with the normal campaign URL (https://vanguard-sos.com/), it will be blocked from Vanguard company devices and VPNs. In fact, you may not be able to see this blog at work if Vanguard finds out about our efforts to evade their censorship.
Vanguard knows employees have the power to change the company from within if they work together. If more employees speak up about climate in Crews Views surveys or department town hall meetings, company leadership will notice.
We believe in the freedom of ideas and think that Vanguard employees can decide for themselves about complex issues like climate change. Evidently, Vanguard management does not feel the same way.
Thankfully some of your colleagues feel that, while they love Vanguard, the company is in the wrong for censoring constructive critique. It was employees who alerted us about this censorship, a sign of the collaboration we have with Vanguard employees. Join us! If you have an opinion about Vanguard’s censorship or anything else, we want to hear from you. Click here to complete an anonymous survey.
If you would like to get more involved with Vanguard S.O.S., along with other Vanguard employees and customers, you can sign up to our newsletter here on our website or email: info@vanguardsos.org.