Building a sustainable future

Vanguard cares deeply about the long-term impact of climate change. It represents a material risk to our investors and the way companies, including Vanguard, will operate in the future. As a company, we are committed to conserving the environment by minimizing our environmental impact throughout our operations.

We take a multifaceted approach to addressing the long-term impact of climate change, and that includes assessing how we operate as a company and an employer. With more than 17,000 mission-driven crew who work in locations throughout the world, Vanguard is committed to building a more sustainable future.

Sustainability goals

Vanguard has previously set internal targets to manage and reduce our own environmental footprint, and we have taken a thorough, pragmatic approach to managing our resources. As we continue our journey, we established new goals in early 2020 to curb emissions and reduce our carbon footprint throughout our global operations in a phased approach.

• Achieving 100% renewable energy in our global operations in 2021.
• Reaching carbon neutrality (a net zero carbon footprint) throughout our global operations in 2025.

Our plan below to achieve our carbon neutrality commitment includes avoiding, reducing, and offsetting all Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, as well as emissions from business travel, employee commuting, waste from operations, and leased assets from Scope 3.

Vanguard's 2019 global carbon footprint



Approach

At Vanguard we have developed a sustainability strategy that balances growth and efficiency. Our commitment to carbon neutrality is demonstrated by our long-term goal of balancing three objectives: reducing our global carbon emissions, making capital investments in our real estate, and funding carbon offset projects. We incorporate sustainable design and construction principles into the U.S. buildings we own, and this extends domestically and internationally with the office space we lease. Our strategy also encompasses the purchase of renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets.

We are taking multiple approaches to reach our 100% renewable energy goal. In locations where it is available, our buildings will use energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower directly from the utility provider. Not all of our locations offer direct access to renewable energy through the utility provider, so our ongoing approach also includes purchasing renewable energy certificates which financially support the development of global renewable energy projects. In 2020, we purchased 56,000 megawatt hours of Green-e Certified wind energy which resulted in 50% of our electricity coming from renewable sources.



We play an important role as a global community of crew addressing climate change. We use global teams of green ambassadors to help build awareness among crew and to advance change locally. These teams work closely with our facilities management professionals and Corporate Sustainability Team who responsibly manage the buildings we own and lease, our electricity use, and recycling initiatives. Green ambassadors also host internal events that educate and engage crew on sustainability topics.

Looking ahead, we are excited to share updates on our performance and progress as we set out to reach 100% renewable energy in 2021 and carbon neutrality in 2025.