Newtown Square, PA – Yesterday, about 50 people braved the cold rain to protest outside of Vanguard’s office on West Chester Pike. With speeches and songs, demonstrators challenged the asset manager to stop backtracking on its climate commitments. In attendance were members of Earth Quaker Action Team, Extinction Rebellion Philadelphia, Fossil Free Penn, and Fridays for Future Philadelphia. This was the first protest at Vanguard’s office in Newtown Square and the biggest protest at a Vanguard office since the firm ended its participation in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative last month.

More than 120 people from local groups protested in support, saying Vanguard’s investments cause harm from Pennsylvania to Peru.

Malvern, PA – Today, a delegation of Achuar and Wampís Indigenous people from the Peruvian Amazon and small-scale fishing communities from the Peruvian coast went to Vanguard’s Malvern headquarters, hoping to meet with the company about its financial support of an oil company threatening their communities. Instead, the delegation was not allowed to enter Vanguard’s campus. Over 120 students, elders, and those living with pollution joined the delegation in support and to protest the harmful impacts of Vanguard’s investments, from Pennsylvania to Peru. Some of them stood in the driveway leading to Vanguard office buildings, holding signs and banners, as they listened to the delegates and other local activists tell their stories. 

British Quakers held their own worship service outside Vanguard’s London offices, while Quakers across the United States joined both groups over Zoom. 

WAYNE, PA – On Friday, October 7, almost fifty members of Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) walked ten minutes from the St David’s train station to a quiet Main Line street where they unfolded metal chairs and sat down for thirty minutes of powerful Quaker-style silent worship across from the Main Line home of Tim Buckley, CEO of Vanguard.

Since the asset manager has failed to put its stated stewardship values into action–and time to curb the climate crisis is running out–area groups are upping the pressure. 

Malvern, PA – On Wednesday, September 21, members of Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) and Extinction Rebellion (XR) Philly walked onto Vanguard’s campus to seek a meeting with John Galloway, Global Head of Investment Stewardship. Galloway has not responded to a year and a half of requests to meet with representatives of the international campaign pressuring Vanguard’s tepid climate plans. When asked again for a meeting today, Vanguard had the activists arrested.

Philadelphia - Today, July 22, members of Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) braved the scorching heat to remind Philadelphians that our unusually high temperatures are not a fluke, but the predicted result of business as usual. A thermometer showed 103 degrees as they stood on the South Street bridge, holding a red and white banner that said, “Vanguard invests in climate destruction.”

14 activists blocked the entrance of the company’s headquarters demanding a livable future

Malvern - Today, hundreds of members of an interfaith group including elders, students, and Vanguard customers protested at the headquarters of the Malvern-based asset manager, demanding Vanguard use its influence over companies it invests in to tackle climate change and reduce fossil fuel dependence. Organized by local organization Earth Quaker Action Team in collaboration with other groups including Power, Dayenu Drexel, Dayenu Penn, XR Philly, 350 Philly, and Elders Action Network, the Earth Day protest was the culminating event of a 5-day, 40 mile walk from Chester to Malvern, tracing the money pipeline upstream from neighborhoods impacted by climate change and pollution to the headquarters of the asset manager, which manages $8.1 trillion on behalf of customers around the world.  

On Wednesday, February 9, at 12:00 pm, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) and supporters protested at the oil-powered Croydon Generating Station to continue to shine light on how Vanguard's investments are hurting people and the planet. Against the beige background of the station’s industrial buildings, individuals in the crowd of 20 protesters held signs reading “Vanguard’s investments are sinking our future” next to the Vanguard’s ship logo sinking into a black ocean.

On Saturday, January 8, over forty people of all ages gathered outside the gate of Covanta’s Conshohocken incinerator to highlight the role of big money in perpetuating pollution and dangerous greenhouse gases, like those emitted by the facility.

MALVERN, PA -- Today, EQAT, Fossil-Free Penn, and local climate groups held a rally and art-filled action to call attention to Vanguard’s billions invested in fossil fuels and other climate destructive projects. A group of about 50 participants held signs, sang, and chalked around Vanguard’s Malvern campus, naming the firm's climate-destructive business practices as a threat to a sustainable future. While many rallied, a small cohort from the group attempted to deliver a letter to Vanguard CEO Mortimer Buckley, demanding that Vanguard be part of the solution by making an ambitious climate plan that 1. Takes its money out of fossil fuels and 2. Makes meaningful investments that will rapidly address climate change, in time for the much anticipated COP26 talks in Glasgow. Vanguard refused to receive the letter and instead called local police on the peaceful protesters. Today’s rally was one of many in the Fossil Free Future global day of action.

After a week of fasting in spiritual preparation, at 3am today activists from the Power Local Green Jobs (PLGJ) campaign set up camp on PECO’s plaza under a giant tent banner that read “PECO has no climate plan”. Later in the morning, dozens of activists from across PECO’s service area marched and car caravanned from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to PECO to call attention to PECO’s dangerous new 5-year energy plan.