Investment manager Vanguard released data from its Investor Choice proxy voting pilot, with results indicating that younger investors and female investors were much more likely to pursue ESG-focused voting policies than their older, or male counterparts.
Vanguard launched its Investor Choice pilot in early 2023, offering investors with the ability to select from a range of policy options to meet a series of preferences. The pilot has been expanded significantly over the past two years, with 12 equity index funds, comprising more than $1 trillion in assets, now included, and over 82,000 investors participating in 2025, more than doubling from the prior year.
Policy options available through the program include the “Company Board-Aligned Policy,” voting in accordance with the recommendations made by the portfolio company’s board of directors; “Glass Lewis ESG Policy,” voting in accordance with the recommendations of Glass Lewis’s thematic ESG Voting Policy, which follows the view that investment returns can be enhanced through a focus on disclosing and mitigating risks related to ESG issues; “Vanguard-Advised Funds Policy,” administered by Vanguard’s investment stewardship team, and; a new “Mirror Voting Policy,” which casts votes in approximately the same proportions as votes cast by other shareholders of the security.
For 2025, Vanguard added the “Egan-Jones Wealth-Focused Policy,” which rejects ESG proposals “unless they directly contribute to revenue generation at the company receiving the proposal.”
In the 2025 season, each of the returning policies were selected by a smaller proportion of investors, with approximately 23% going to the new Egan Jones policy, with the ESG voting policy falling from around 24% to 18% of investors.
While a smaller proportion of investors overall selected the ESG policy, Vanguard noted that younger investors were more than twice as likely to select the ESG policy, with 42% of those under the age of 45 selecting the policy, compared with only 17% of those 45 and older.
For younger investors, the ESG policy was by far the most popular, with the Vanguard-Advised Funds Policy in second place at 27%.
Additionally, female investors were also much more likely to select the ESG policy, at 28%, compared with 16% of male investors. Conversely, male investors were much more likely to select the Egan Jones policy that avoided voting for ESG resolutions, at 26%, compared with only 14% of female investors.
John Galloway, Global Head of Investment Stewardship at Vanguard, said:
“Investor Choice carries forward that legacy by ensuring that investors and their fiduciaries can more directly align their investment portfolios with their goals and preferences. The results from this proxy season reinforce that investor interest in proxy voting choice continues to grow and, as illustrated by the dispersal of policy selections, investors have a range of perspectives on proxy voting matters.”
