Investing

What Vanguard’s withdrawal from the NZAMI really means

David Callaway

Published: December 22, 2022 4:21 am

Last Updated: December 22, 2022 10:23 am

(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — It’s telling that none of the more than half-dozen industry experts and researchers I reached out to for this column was willing to speak on the record—if they even returned my calls.

I told them that I was writing about Vanguard’s decision earlier this month to withdraw from the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAMI). That decision has led to no end of hand wringing from many in the climate finance world who worry it means that Vanguard is giving up on doing anything to mitigate climate change. At the same time, many on the right are celebrating because they think Vanguard’s decision means that the firm is forsaking “woke” finance.

Neither of these polarized responses is the whole truth. It’s a testament to how stylized and unhelpful our society’s discussions of climate change have become that no one is willing to say this on the record…

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