Five years on, Sphere’s new site makes the case against oil in your 401(k)
Buena built Sphere’s first website in 2021. On June 16, 2026 the newest one went live: sharper, calmer and built to move retirement money out of fossil fuels.
Moving retirement money out of fossil fuels.
- Client
- Sphere
- What we did
- Website
- Result
- Climate-first investing platform
No one should have to choose between profits and purpose. Sphere is sustainable investing that actually votes your shares.
Most 401(k)s quietly put workers' savings into fossil fuels
Retirement savings are one of the largest pools of money in the country, and much of it flows quietly into fossil fuels. Citing industry data and As You Sow, Sphere puts it bluntly: 99% of Americans with a 401(k) are invested in fossil fuels.
The people who pick retirement plans have a different problem. Fiduciaries can be held personally liable for choosing the wrong fund, so a climate fund has to check every box a 401(k) requires: diversified, benchmarked, low cost.
Sphere set out to build that fund. It also wanted to get people excited about investing in the future again.
Have your 401(cake) and eat it too
Sphere talks to two audiences at once. Heart followers are the employees and change-makers who push their companies to act. Rule followers are the HR leaders, finance teams and advisors who sign off, and the brand is built for the first without worrying the second.
Its tone is a walking contradiction, worn proudly. It's an underdog that's confident, an agitator that's respectful, and environmentalists who are good capitalists.
So the lines are optimistic, not guilty: 'Save the future. Save for yours.' 'Have your 401(cake) and eat it too.' The look borrows from banknotes, with engraved portraits and fine guilloche lines.
A website, a climate app and a booth at the 401(k) industry's summit
We built oursphere.org, the home for the Sphere 500. It's an index of the 500 largest US companies minus fossil fuels and other harmful industries, and it votes its shares for climate action.
We also built AtmoSphere, a free app that reads public filings. It shows how much of any company's 401(k) is likely invested in fossil fuels.
Then we took the brand to the NAPA 401(k) Summit, where the advisors who choose funds gather. The booth came with cake pops and cappuccinos.
oursphere.org
The website for the fund, from first click to investing.
AtmoSphere
A free app showing the fossil-fuel footprint of any 401(k) plan.
NAPA Summit booth
A booth with cake pops and cappuccinos for the advisors who choose funds.
A fossil-free fund employers can add to an existing 401(k)
Today Sphere's fund can be added to an existing 401(k) plan without switching providers. It is available on platforms including Fidelity and Vanguard.
We keep working with Sphere on the site, the apps and the campaigns. oursphere.org now publishes through Ojo, our own site-checking pipeline.
The mission hasn't changed: a climate-friendly option in every 401(k). Every piece we make for Sphere is built to move that one step closer.
No one should have to choose between profits and purpose.
In the news
New client: Sphere wants to get fossil fuels out of your 401(k)
Most 401(k)s quietly fund oil and gas. Sphere set out to build a fossil-free fund that could sit inside any of them, and asked Buena to make people care.
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