Do you know how your 401(k) funds are invested—the kind of companies they hold, and what those companies are doing to respond to urgent global risks like climate change? There’s a good chance that, like almost half of workers, you don’t. You hand your contributions over to the plan, which puts them in whatever investments your employer and their fund manager have picked.
Then you sit back and hope your balance grows. Whether it does, and how much, depends on where those fund managers are putting your money. Since default allocations and target date funds are how most people’s 401(k) funds get invested, it’s imperative that they reflect the financial interests of employee-investors like you.
Big Tech companies have tens of billions of employee 401(k) funds invested. One of the easiest ways they can help their employees’ money grow faster is to switch their default option to a sustainable fund and stop putting it into fossil fuel companies—which will help protect the climate, too.
New research conducted at the University of Waterloo (Canada) in partnership with the shareholder organization I lead, As You Sow, looked at the 401(k) plans of 12 tech-sector companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Netflix. It found that 2 million tech workers could have earned an estimated $5.1 billion in additional returns if their employers had pulled their retirement plan holdings out of fossil fuels a decade ago. Google employees alone lost out on an estimated $1.1 billion in gains. On average, investments in fossil-free portfolios did 8.9% better over 10 years. Compound that over an employee’s whole career—and it's big money.
That’s because, as the global economy rapidly transitions to renewable energy, fossil fuels are an objectively risky investment compared to the market overall. And the risk is accelerating: One study suggests that half of the world’s fossil fuel assets could be worthless by 2036.
The amount of employees’ money that Big Tech 401(k) plans have invested in fossil fuels, especially through target date funds, is stunning. Google employees are believed to have roughly $2 billion in fossil fuels. Apple employees to have another billion. The bulk of this money is invested not by choice but by default, through target date funds. Moving it out of risky fossil fuel investments into safer, future-forward assets is the best choice for employees and it aligns with these companies’ stated sustainability goals.
As You Sow presented these findings to the 12 companies prior to the public release of the study. None of the companies offered a substantive response. However, it’s also not the first time they’ve learned that their 401(k) plans are out of alignment with their publicly stated climate commitments. In fact, As You Sow has previously met with senior management and filed shareholder resolutions over several years, raising the issue at several of the companies, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix.
So why aren’t Big Tech companies fixing the problem? It’s particularly puzzling given that they’ve all implemented their climate goals in their operations. Google markets its “third decade of climate action” on its main landing page, and clearly states on its sustainability landing page that it is critical to “track our progress and be transparent with what we’ve accomplished and where we’re going.” Amazon encourages consumers to “discover and shop for more sustainable products” as part of its “Climate Pledge Friendly” program. Apple’s 2030 plan commits to using “recycled and renewable materials, clean electricity, and low-carbon shipping” to bring its net emissions to zero. Yet, their employee retirement plans are counteracting those efforts while also resulting in lower returns.
Addressing the systemic risk of investing in high-carbon companies is a proven win-win strategy for companies looking to reduce their emissions while protecting their employees from climate-related financial risk. Big Tech companies could do it with one call to Vanguard or BlackRock telling them to provide fossil-free default investment funds for their employees’ money.
That one phone call would change the face of 401(k) investing. It would be a substantive step toward climate change mitigation and would earn employees better investment returns for retirement. It would send the global business community a message that fulfilling their fiduciary duty to choose the funds with the greatest long-term sustainable growth potential is not hard. It will protect employees from climate-related financial risk, demonstrate that the company applies its sustainability goals holistically, create a positive culture that attracts and retains the best and brightest employees, and build customer loyalty.
Andrew Behar is the CEO of As You Sow.
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