VEOIX Vanguard Global Environmental Opportunities Stock Fund Investor Shares

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Vanguard average mutual fund expense ratio: 0.09%. Industry average mutual fund expense ratio: 0.50%. All averages are asset-weighted. Industry average excludes Vanguard. Sources: Vanguard and Morningstar, Inc., as of December 31, 2023.

Total returns: Short-term total return information is provided only as a service. Historical performance—particularly short-term performance—is no guarantee of future returns. Price, yield, and return on an actual investment will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell. Average annual returns include changes in price and reinvestments of dividends and capital gains. Since-inception returns for less than 1 year and year-to-date returns aren't annualized. Index performance is provided as a benchmark but isn't illustrative of any particular investment. You can't invest in an index.

Standardized returns: To see quarterly fee-adjusted returns, refer to the Price & Performance details.

Expense ratios: Expense ratios are displayed on Overview. For investments that are less than 1 fiscal year old, expense ratios are estimated.

Risk: All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Funds that concentrate on a relatively narrow market sector face the risk of higher share-price volatility. Investments in stocks or bonds issued by non-U.S. companies are subject to risks including country/regional risk and currency risk.

An investment in the fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the fund's performance:

• Stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The fund's investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions.
• ESG investing risks: The fund is subject to ESG investing risks. The fund’s advisor selects securities for the fund based on the ESG criteria disclosed in the fund’s principal investment strategies. Using ESG criteria could result in the fund investing in securities that trail the returns of other funds that use ESG criteria or in the fund underperforming the market as a whole. Interpretations of what it means for a company or issuer to exhibit ESG characteristics can – and do – vary significantly across individuals, index providers, advisors, and other funds that use ESG criteria. As a result, the fund’s disclosed ESG criteria, or the advisor’s assessment of whether or not a company or issuer meets the fund’s disclosed ESG criteria, may not align with your personal view of what it means for a company or issuer to exhibit ESG characteristics. Further, individual securities held by the fund may not reflect your personal preferences, beliefs, expectations, and/or values. In order to assess a company or issuer against the fund’s disclosed ESG criteria, the advisor depends on the availability of data obtained through voluntary or third-party reporting. There can be no assurance that this data will be accurate, complete, or current, which could result in an inaccurate assessment of a company or issuer.
• Environmental-focused investing risk, which is the risk that the fund's focus on environmental companies limits the types and number of investment opportunities available to the fund and, as a result, the fund may underperform other funds that do not have such a focus. The fund's environmental-focused investment strategy may result in the fund investing in securities or industry sectors that underperform the market as a whole or forgoing opportunities to invest in securities that might otherwise be advantageous to buy. Additionally, if a particular security held by the fund no longer meets the environmental criteria subsequent to the time of investment, the fund may sell such investments at an inopportune time or at a time when those investments may be difficult to sell. In addition, the fund may incur expenses in an effort to dispose of such investments. The fund's focus on securities of environmental companies means the fund will be more susceptible to events or factors affecting these companies, and the market prices of its portfolio securities may be more volatile than those of funds that are more diversified. Some environmental companies may have more limited operating histories and smaller market capitalizations on average than companies in other sectors. In addition, the fund is particularly susceptible to changes in global and regional climates, environmental protection regulatory actions, changes in government standards and subsidy levels, changes in taxation and other domestic and international and political, regulatory and economic developments.
• Investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from the types of growth stocks in which the fund invests will trail returns from the overall stock market. Small-, mid-, and large-cap growth stocks each tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than other segments of the stock market or the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years. Historically, small- and mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than large-cap stocks. The stock prices of small and mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions. The long-term investment approach of the fund may cause the fund to lose money or underperform compared to its benchmark index or other mutual funds over extended periods of time, and the fund may not perform as expected in the long term. An investment in the fund may be more suitable for long-term investors who can bear the risk of short- or medium-term fluctuations in the value of the fund's portfolio.
• Country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the fund may invest its assets in securities of companies located in emerging markets, the fund's performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
• Emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging and frontier markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, financial reporting, accounting, and recordkeeping systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
• Special risks of investing in China: The fund’s investments in companies or issuers economically tied to China are subject to the country/regional, emerging markets, and currency risks described above, in addition to unique risks. Investments economically tied to China are associated with considerable degrees of social and humanitarian, legal, regulatory, political, and economic uncertainty. Risks described above may be more pronounced for the fund. All of these factors, among others, could have negative impacts on the fund. For example, the fund may not be able to access its desired amount of shares of companies incorporated in China that trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (A-shares) and/or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (H-shares), which may cause the fund to miss out on investment opportunities. Investments economically tied to China may be (or become in the future) restricted or sanctioned by the U.S. government or another government, which could cause these securities to decline in value or become less liquid. If the fund’s holdings become impacted by restrictions or sanctions, the fund may incur losses. Additionally, the fund may gain exposure to certain companies in China through legal structures known as variable interest entities (VIEs), which provide exposure to Chinese companies through contractual arrangements instead of equity ownership. Investing through a VIE does not offer the same level of investor protection as direct ownership and is subject to risks including breach of the contractual arrangements, difficulty in enforcing the contractual arrangements outside of the U.S., and intervention by the U.S. government. These risks could significantly affect a VIE’s market value, which in turn could impact the fund’s performance.
• Nondiversification risk, which is the chance that the fund's performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few investments. The fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the instruments of particular issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
• Asset concentration risk, which is the chance that, because the fund tends to invest a high percentage of assets in its ten largest holdings, the fund's performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks.
• Sector risk, which is the chance that significant problems will affect a particular sector, or that returns from that sector will trail returns from the overall stock market. Daily flucuations in specific market sectors are often more extreme or volatile than flucations in the overall market. Because a significant portion of the fund's assets are invested in the industrials, information technology, and utilities sectors, the fund's performance is impacted by the general condition of those sectors.
• Currency risk, which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates.
• Manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective.