Philadelphia Quakers Want You to Help Them Dent the Fossil Fuel Money Pipeline

It is easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed by horrifying climate catastrophes seemingly everywhere: Across the U. S. this summer, from Hawaii to Texas and Missouri, intense heat and wildfires are causing injury, illness, and death. Fear and sadness can make us “throw up our hands” and conclude that the problem is too big and that there is nothing we can do to stop the burning of fossil fuels on a scale needed to avert the worst effects of a warming world. However, a group of Quakers in Philadelphia have faith that nonviolent direct action has the potential to interrupt the “business as usual” funding of the fossil fuel industry.

For the last two years, I’ve joined this group of Quakers, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), and an international coalition of activists, in interrupting the pipeline of money that props up the fossil fuel industry. One major source of this money comes from the investment giant, Vanguard Group. Vanguard markets itself as a “leader in low cost investing,” which has helped it become a leader in investment management. People from across the country entrust their savings to Vanguard with the hope of maximizing their return on investment so they can retire or send their children to college. What Vanguard doesn’t advertise is how customers’ money helps drive the fossil fuel industry.

Vanguard is the world’s biggest investor in fossil fuels and has invested $184 billion in fossil fuel infrastructure expansion. (Vanguard is the top investor in Hawaiian Electric, which is currently implicated as a major contributor to the wildfire disaster in Maui.) While Vanguard acknowledges that climate change will have a negative net impact on the global economy, it continues its investment practices, full steam ahead, on a course to climate catastrophe.

We remain hopeful that our message will break through to Vanguard, especially as the reality of climate-related disasters dominates the news, and as more and more investors like many of us refuse to go along with Vanguard’s toxic business practices.

EQAT has used numerous nonviolent direct actions over the last two years to draw attention to Vanguard’s dangerous investment practices and its failure to incorporate into its business model the existential threat of the climate crisis. Luckily, Vanguard’s global headquarters are in EQAT’s “backyard,” Malvern, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, which has allowed us to bring our concerns to their doorstep. Our actions have involved, among other things, distributing fliers to Vanguard employees; co-hosting speakers, including an Indigenous group from Peru asking Vanguard to stop funding oil company Petroperú; and holding a mock news report from the year 2033 in which climate disasters are tied to Vanguard’s failed decision-making in 2023. (We have also prayed at the home of Vanguard CEO, Tim Buckley, in an adjacent suburb.) On the two occasions when we used civil disobedience to get our message across, Vanguard had many of us removed from the campus in handcuffs.

Given the urgency and scope of the crisis, EQAT and its like-minded partners have been urging Vanguard to use the power and influence that it has as a major shareholder in many climate-destroying companies; Vanguard can use its power to insist that fossil fuel companies, and other polluting industries, change their ways. If they refuse, we argue that Vanguard must withdraw its funding from these entities.

We remain hopeful that our message will break through to Vanguard, especially as the reality of climate-related disasters dominates the news, and as more and more investors like many of us refuse to go along with Vanguard’s toxic business practices. In June, a number of EQAT activists who had individual investment accounts with Vanguard decided it was time to remove their funds from “the pipeline.” We came to Vanguard headquarters, in sight of Vanguard employees enjoying their company picnic, and announced that many of us were moving our money elsewhere. Collectively, $17 million has been moved.

While $17 million may not put a big dent in the over $7 trillion that Vanguard manages, it reflects the idea that a caring community can be empowered to take a collective stand against planet-destroying profit taking. Plus, that $17 million is just the beginning. The amount of money being withdrawn from Vanguard is growing as more Quakers and their allies refuse to participate in Vanguard’s reckless way of doing business. One ally Elders Action Network, a national group of thousands, is now joining the effort to move assets out of Vanguard in order to invest with more responsible investment managers.

In addition to removing money from Vanguard, we will continue to challenge Vanguard’s brand. Marketing themselves as a low cost investment manager is misleading as it belies the fact that we all pay a very high price for climate-related disasters. Some of us suffer the health consequences of poor air quality and high heat, while others bear the cost of damaged or destroyed cars and homes in the aftermath of extreme weather and wildfires. As a local television ad targeting Vanguard proclaims, “If it’s bad for the environment, it’s bad for your retirement.”

Remaining hopeful in this work takes discipline and effort. EQAT operates with certain values and practices that help us “stay motivated for the long fights.” One value we embrace is being on our learning edge: We take on tasks and roles that are uncomfortably new, learning as we go. Another value encourages us to create meaningful, supportive connections with our fellow EQAT volunteers. Living these values can be difficult and exhausting, but, for me and others, it offers a much needed alternative to resignation and despair.