Tag: Vanguard

American Financial Titans Are Straying from Green Investment Strategies as GOP Pushback Mounts, Report Finds

Admin

Several leading American asset managers have decreased their support for environmental, social and governance (ESG) resolutions since 2021, according to a new report by InfluenceMap, a nonprofit that tracks climate policies in Western corporations.

InfluenceMap’s report assigned BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street and Fidelity environmental stewardship grades of C+ or lower, which indicates that each firm exhibits “a lack of effective climate stewardship processes and use of shareholder authority to engage companies to transition” to a green energy, net-zero carbon emissions future. The report also noted that 2022 saw a “considerable” drop in corporate support for ambitious green shareholder resolutions, a development that coincides with increased Republican scrutiny of corporate ESG policies and mandates.

Read the full story

Commentary: BlackRock’s Larry Fink and the New Post-ESG Realism

RealClearWire

As regular as the turn of the seasons, each January sees Larry Fink, founder and CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, publish a lengthy letter on the state of the world and its implications for finance and investors. This year, January turned to February, and still no letter. Instead, February saw Tim Buckley, CEO of Vanguard, global number-two asset manager, give a groundbreaking interview explaining Vanguard’s decision late last year to quit the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, which had been formed ahead of the 2021 Glasgow climate conference to reallocate capital in line with net zero emissions targets.

Read the full story

Huge Investment Firm Leaves Climate Alliance After Republican Officials Call for Government Inquiry

Admin

The world’s second-largest asset manager Vanguard announced Wednesday that it was leaving the Net-Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM), a collective of financial institutions that support investments aimed at reducing global carbon emissions. Vanguard’s move came after several Republican attorneys general called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prevent the company from purchasing publicly traded utilities due to the firm’s previous climate commitments.

Read the full story

John Bogle, Founder of Vanguard, Dies at 89

Admin

John C. Bogle, who simplified investing for the masses by launching the first index mutual fund and founded Vanguard Group, died Wednesday, the company said. He was 89. Bogle did not invent the index fund, but he expanded access to no-frills, low-cost investing in 1976 when Vanguard introduced the first index fund for individual investors, rather than institutional clients. The emergence of funds that passively tracked market indexes, like the Standard & Poor’s 500, enabled investors to avoid the higher fees charged by professional fund managers who frequently fail to beat the market. More often than not, the higher operating expenses that fund managers pass on to their shareholders cancel out any edge they may achieve through expert stock-picking. Mutual fund industry critic Bogle and Vanguard shook up the industry further in 1977. The company ended its reliance on outside brokers and instead began directly marketing its funds to investors without charging upfront fees known as sales loads. Bogle served as Vanguard’s chairman and CEO from its 1974 founding until 1996. He stepped down as senior chairman in 2000, but remained a critic of the fund industry and Wall Street, writing books, delivering speeches and running the Bogle Financial Markets…

Read the full story