Vanguard is on the register’s watch list: no nature performance deal names it, and its February 2026 settlement with Texas and other states commits it to passive stewardship [IC].
Right of reply
This page describes Vanguard only through its published statements and the public records of the deals listed. Vanguard has not yet been invited to comment. Responses and corrections will be recorded here with their date. On register pages, [MS] marks a claim that rests only on the institution’s own statement or on statements by parties to the same deal.
In the register
The register follows instruments whose terms depend on a verified ecological outcome, the broad family of the performance-based bond. The register index explains its tiers, roles and claim tags. No nature performance deal names Vanguard in the sources checked, so the register lists it on the watch list for the policies, research or products below.
Vanguard settled on 26 February 2026 for US$29.5 million and accepted “Passivity Commitments”, under which it will not use divestment, threats of divestment or opposition to directors as levers on environmental and social conduct; its US entities agreed not to join initiatives such as the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative [IC]. Texas Attorney General Paxton called the settlement “historic, industry-changing”; Ropes & Gray said Vanguard had agreed only to current industry norms; the NYU Stern author argued it gives up effective stewardship tools [IC]. The settlement governs stewardship and coalition membership. It does not bar the purchase of any particular bond.
What it has said
Vanguard said it was “disappointed” when the court denied most of the motions to dismiss in August 2025 [MS].
Related
References
- NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, Vanguard settles on ESG (2026)
- Manifest, NZAM relaunched with 250 signatories (2026)
- ESG Dive, motion to dismiss denied in Texas coal antitrust case (August 2025)
Provenance
Drafted on 15 October 2026 from the research brief Nature performance bond investors.md, compiled the same day from five research strands: outcome-linked and sustainability-linked bonds, environmental impact bonds, debt-for-nature conversions, insurers and reinsurers, and the largest asset managers with their regulatory context. Claim tags follow the brief, which never upgraded a claim without a source and lowered to [MS] any claim a research note had graded [IC] on the strength of a company’s own release. The headquarters country in based_in comes from general knowledge unless a deal record states it, and is to be confirmed. The brief’s search had limits: fund holdings filings, municipal bond disclosures and the Oxford INDIGO and Brookings impact bond databases were not searched, so a deal missing from this page may exist.