Vanguard

Investors Against Genocide sought to engage with Vanguard, including submitting and defending shareholder proposals for genocide-free investing. Ultimately, that engagement failed. Vanguard was not interested in having a genocide-free investing policy and consistently opposed genocide-free investing shareholder proposals. Investors Against Genocide is no longer engaging Vanguard.

Vanguard, along with many financial institutions, has invested in the handful of foreign oil companies which helped to fund the government of Sudan’s deadly campaign of violence against millions of its citizens. Vanguard does not have a genocide-free investing policy and has been one of the world’s largest owners of shares of PetroChina, one of those oil companies. These investments, while legal, are inconsistent with U.S. sanctions explicitly prohibiting transactions relating to Sudan and Syria’s petroleum industries.

In November, 2017, despite Vanguard’s active opposition, shareholders of 48 Vanguard funds voted in favor of the proposal with preliminary voting results showing a high of 39% and a low of 6%, with an average of about 20%. See the list of funds here and the proxy statement here. Read Eric Cohen’s presentation at the 2017 shareholder meeting here.

The previous Vanguard shareholder meeting was in July 2009, at which shareholders of 21 Vanguard funds voted in support of the proposal with votes ranging from 7% to 17% in favor of genocide-free investing.

Results at the 2009 Vanguard shareholder meeting were lower than the Fidelity results in the same period, which ranged from 17% to 31%.  Investors Against Genocide attributes the lower results to Vanguard’s  statement of opposition which contended that the genocide-free investing proposal called for procedures that “duplicate” existing practices and were “substantially identical” to existing procedures of the Vanguard funds.

However, Vanguard’s “substantially identical” policy has not resulted in the sale of any of the large oil companies with ties to genocide. Rather, Vanguard’s Plain Talk About Proxy Proposal 3 web page states that “the trustees have determined that no companies have warranted divestment.”

Since the 2009 shareholder vote, Vanguard has continued to hold and purchase additional shares of PetroChina and Sinopec, oil companies tied to the genocide in Sudan.

  • Has a genocide-free investing policy
  • Divested from PetroChina
  • Voted for GFI shareholder proposal
In the News

Vanguard's shame

Marc Gunther
July 3rd, 2009

Death by Dollars

New York Times
February 11th, 2007