Rize Sustainable Future of Food UCITS ETF

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

The Rize Sustainable Future of Food UCITS ETF is a sustainable fund, as per the requirements of Article 9 of SFDR. The investment objective of the Rize Sustainable Future of Food UCITS ETF (the “Fund”) is to replicate the performance of the Solactive RIZE ETF Sustainable Future of Food Index (the “Index”). Accordingly, the Fund shares the same sustainable objective as the Index.

The objective of the Fund is to provide exposure to stocks of companies that are positioned to benefit from the accelerating transition towards more sustainable food production systems and consumption patterns, with a focus on safeguarding nature and ecosystems, promoting transparency, nutrition and safety, and encouraging more resource-efficient and sustainable food practices. The taxonomy and classification of the Fund is determined through a dedicated sustainable food thematic classification designed to identify companies contributing to a more sustainable food system.

The Index is designed to provide exposure to global publicly traded companies contributing to the transition towards a more sustainable food system. It includes companies across key sub-sectors such as plant-based foods and organic foods, ingredients, flavours and fragrances, food safety and testing, precision farming, sustainable packaging, agricultural science, water technology and supply chain technology. The strategy is also designed with specific sustainability features, including the avoidance of livestock production and products, commercial fishing and fish farming, plastic packaging companies, and certain fertiliser and pesticide companies that do not support more sustainable agricultural practices.

Our engagement programme specifically targets companies on ESG issues, including performance related to Principal Adverse Impact indicators, with the objective of fostering improvement and transparency. Our proxy voting policy is also aligned to encourage good governance and address sustainability concerns.

Standard Exclusion Criteria prescribed by the RIZE Future First Policy

The RIZE Future First Policy applies a core suite of exclusion criteria across the RIZE sustainable thematic ETFs, including the Rize Environmental Impact 100 UCITS ETF. These exclusions are designed to mitigate residual ESG risks and ensure that companies whose activities conflict with the Fund’s sustainable investment objective are excluded from the relevant thematic universe and Index.

For the purposes of applying these exclusions, RIZE distinguishes between direct involvement and semi-direct or indirect involvement. Direct involvement typically relates to producers and operators. Semi-direct or indirect involvement includes activities such as distribution, retailing, supplying, licensing, support services and other forms of participation in excluded business activities.

The standard exclusions applicable to the Fund include the following:

Controversial Weapons, Nuclear Weapons and Civilian Firearms
Companies with any ties to controversial weapons, nuclear weapons or civilian firearms are excluded. This includes direct, semi-direct and indirect involvement, with a 0% revenue tolerance threshold.

Thermal and Metallurgical Coal
Companies are excluded where they derive any revenue from thermal coal-based power generation, thermal coal mining, metallurgical coal mining, or thermal coal distribution or transport. The applicable revenue tolerance threshold is 0% across direct, semi-direct and indirect involvement.

Oil and Gas
Companies are excluded where they derive any revenue from oil and gas extraction and production, or from liquid fuel and natural gas-based power generation. A 0% revenue tolerance threshold applies to these direct activities.

Companies are also excluded where they exceed a 5% aggregate revenue threshold across specified semi-direct oil and gas activities, including oil and gas distribution and retailing, equipment and services for oil and gas exploration and production, petrochemical products, oil and gas pipelines and transportation, oil and gas refining, and oil and gas trading.

Nuclear Energy
Companies are excluded where they derive any revenue from nuclear energy-based power generation. A 0% revenue tolerance threshold applies to direct nuclear energy generation. Companies are also excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from manufacturing or supplying key products or services to the nuclear power industry, including uranium mining.

Weapons
Companies are excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from the production of conventional weapons, components, support systems or services, including biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, delivery platforms, dual-use components and related services.

Military Contracting
Companies are excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from military contracting activities, including companies identified through the U.S. Department of Defense Top 100 Contractors list.

Tobacco
Companies are excluded where they derive any revenue from tobacco production. A 0% threshold applies to direct tobacco production, including the manufacture of tobacco products and the growing or processing of raw tobacco leaves.

Companies are also excluded where they exceed a 5% aggregate revenue threshold across semi-direct tobacco activities, including tobacco distribution, retailing, licensing and supplying key products to the tobacco industry.

Gambling
Companies are excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from gambling operations, including online or mobile gambling, supporting activities and licensing.

Adult Entertainment
Companies are excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from the production, distribution or retail of adult entertainment products or services.

Alcohol
Companies are excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from manufacturing, distributing, retailing, licensing or supplying alcoholic products.

Genetic Engineering
Companies are excluded where they derive more than 5% of revenue from genetic engineering activities.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Companies are excluded where they are involved in embryonic stem cell research.

International Norms and Standards Violations
Companies flagged as having violated one or more of the major global norms frameworks are excluded. These frameworks include the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the International Labour Organization’s broad principles, the International Labour Organization’s core principles, and the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. Companies flagged on the watch list for three or more of these frameworks may also be excluded. Depending on the relevant circumstances, further research and direct engagement with the company may be undertaken before a final determination is made.

Controversies
Companies determined to be engaged in controversial behaviour, including environmental controversies that may significantly harm one or more environmental objectives, may be placed on the RIZE Future First Exclusion List. Where appropriate, further research and engagement may be undertaken before a final determination is made.

Poor Governance Practices
Companies determined to be engaged in poor governance practices may be placed on the applicable Exclusion List. This includes concerns relating to sound management structures, employee relations, staff remuneration and tax compliance. RIZE typically seeks to exclude the worst offenders directly and engage with companies with apparent governance deficiencies where further assessment is warranted.

Armed Conflict / Other Significant Controversies
A company may also be placed on the Exclusion List if it is based in, or otherwise significantly exposed to, a country engaged in significant domestic or international armed conflict, human rights abuses, corruption or other significant controversies, even where the company itself is not directly linked to the activities of the relevant government. Any such determination is made by the Sustainability Committee.

Impact Report 2025

Process:

For our RIZE by ARK Invest sustainable thematic funds, we build all our indices and ETFS from scratch allowing for the possibility to apply a consistent approach to ESG and sustainability to the Fund. In the case of the Rize Sustainable Future of Food UCITS ETF, the index is purpose-built in collaboration with our Thematic Research Partner Tematica.

The security of our food system is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. With dwindling natural resources, the challenge of providing healthy, affordable and nutritious food to a growing global population – all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental harm – is intensifying. The food industry has started to respond, expanding plant-based protein options and increasing sustainability of farming, and improving supply-chains and packaging. Consumers too, have become more concerned about food safety and the provenance of what they eat. The global food system now requires urgent transformation if we want to avoid the sorts of planetary damage that awaits if we do nothing – loss of biodiversity, freshwater depletion, pollution of our rivers and oceans and enduring damage to our soils.

Against this backdrop, the thematic classification for the “Sustainable Future of Food” theme (the “Thematic Classification”) pursuant to which companies are selected, screened, assigned a Sustainable Food Score and weighted by the Index establishes several sub-sectors which are collectively contributing to the sustainable objective.

Thematic classification and scoring process

The Index utilises a dedicated thematic classification for the “Sustainable Future of Food” theme (the “Thematic Classification”) and resulting stock universe (the “Stock Universe”). The Thematic Classification is a global market segmentation which has been designed for the investment and research communities with the objective of identifying the companies, sub-sectors and business activities of companies whose commercial models are benefiting from the structural shift towards more sustainable production and consumption within the food value chain globally.

Within the Classification, companies are classified according to whether they fit within one of the following sub-sectors:

• Plant Based Foods and Organic Foods: Companies producing and delivering plant-based foods and plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy in the form of novel food and beverage formulations
• Ingredients, Flavours and Fragrances: Companies engaging in addressing the increasing demand for natural and organic ingredients in the production of both flavours and fragrances
• Food Safety and Testing: Companies engaging in providing food safety solutions such as cleaning and sanitation systems and anti-microbial products utilised in the processing of food and beverages
• Precision Farming: Companies engaging in agricultural innovation through new technologies which are principally aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of crops produced on the same amount of land, improving efficiencies in the use of input resources, reducing the negative impact of external / environmental risk factors and reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture.
• Agricultural Science: Companies engaging in the maximisation of crop yields and the optimisation of input resources through science and technology, including seed science (gene editing and breeding technologies, but not gene modification), fertilizers and crop protection products.
• Water Technology: Companies engaging in the provision of irrigation technologies aimed at minimizing the use of water in agriculture, including the development of advanced precision irrigation systems and IOT technologies that facilitate variable rate irrigation, wireless irrigation and the use of GPS positioning and guidance, which can be controlled remotely on smart devices.
• Supply Chain Technology: Companies engaging in the development of food processing technologies, such as cleaning, peeling, sorting and packing technologies that are supplied to food and beverage producers and grocery retailers. This sub-sector also captures companies that provide logistics technologies to the companies operating throughout the food value chain, such as automated warehouse logistics solutions.
• Sustainable Packaging: Companies engaging in the production of food packaging that is both sustainable and either reusable, recyclable or compostable.

As part of the thematic classification process, each company is assigned a thematic purity score which reflects the company’s economic exposure (operating profit, or revenue where operating profit is not available) to the sub-sectors of the “Sustainable Future of Food” investment theme (the “Sustainable Food Score”). The company must derive at least 20% of its reported operating profit or revenue from the theme to be eligible for inclusion in the Index/Fund.

It is possible that the sub-sector definitions may evolve over time and that additional sub-sectors may be added in future as the Thematic Classification adapts in line with the transition to a more sustainable food system.

The sub-sector classifications and Sustainable Food Scores of the companies are re-assessed on a semi-annual basis as part of the semi-annual update of the Stock Universe in March and September each year.

Index selection and weighting

Companies must derive a significant proportion of their reported operating profits or revenue from one or more sub-sectors of the Thematic Classification to be eligible for selection.

Companies must be listed on an eligible stock exchange listed in the Index Methodology to be eligible for selection.

Companies which conflict with the ESG screening criteria of the Rize Future First Policy shall not be eligible for selection.

Companies must meet certain minimum free-float market capitalisation and liquidity thresholds to be eligible for selection.

Having been selected for inclusion within the Index, companies are principally weighted according to their relative Sustainable Food Score (i.e. the higher a company’s Sustainable Food Score, the higher the company’s weight in the Index).

Semi-annual rebalancing

The Index is reblanced on a semi-annual basis in March and September each year pursuant to the published Index Methodology using the latest Stock Universe delivered by the Thematic Research Partner and screening criteria of the Rize Future First Policy.

The Fund will make a corresponding adjustments to its portfolio to reflect any changes to the composition of the Index resulting from the semi-annual rebalance.

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:

ARK Invest Europe’s sustainability function is led by a dedicated in-house Sustainability Lead, who oversees ESG integration across portfolio construction, semi-annual rebalances, SFDR compliance, stewardship activity and impact reporting as a full-time equivalent role. ESG integration is overseen by the Sustainability Committee, which meets at least quarterly and comprises senior management of ARK Invest Europe (the “Promoter”) and IQ EQ Fund Management (the “Manager”), an external ESG professional and two independent directors. This Committee approves ESG-related policies and disclosures, reviews exclusion lists, stewardship priorities and escalation outcomes, monitors engagement activity, and helps ensure alignment with evolving regulatory standards and fiduciary responsibilities.

We also partner with specialist research firms, including Sustainable Market Strategies and Tematica Research, to develop bespoke thematic classifications and impact-scoring methodologies for our index funds, helping to ensure they focus on companies delivering measurable environmental and social benefits. On the external research side, we subscribe to MSCI ESG Manager for ESG business involvement screening, norms-based screens and EU Taxonomy alignment metrics, and we use ISS ProxyExchange for proxy voting execution, while retaining full authority and accountability for voting decisions.

Our RIZE Future First Policy underpins our sustainable-investment approach by combining rigorous exclusion screens, thematic classifications and proactive stewardship to ensure consistency and integrity across our sustainable thematic ETFs. This framework has now been complemented by the dedicated RIZE Future First Stewardship Policy, which sets out how stewardship is exercised across the RIZE suite through direct engagement, collaborative initiatives, proxy voting and escalation where material ESG risks remain insufficiently addressed. The policy also formalises record-keeping, annual review, and an escalation pathway that can ultimately lead to inclusion on the RIZE Future First Exclusion List and divestment at the next scheduled index rebalance where concerns remain material.

In addition, ARK Invest Europe has expanded its sustainability reporting capabilities through the launch of the RIZE Impact Calculator and a new suite of fund-level Impact Reports. The RIZE Impact Calculator is designed to translate an investment allocation into quantified environmental and social outputs, with underlying definitions, sources and calculation steps visible to investors. This framework underpins the annual Impact Reports, which provide fund-level reporting on tangible outcomes such as renewable energy enabled, emissions avoided, water saved, waste diverted and other theme-relevant indicators, using a consistent in-house impact methodology.

Throughout the organisation, ESG factors are incorporated into research, stewardship and risk-management processes, supported by internal training, shared reporting tools and cross-functional implementation by the sustainability, investment and compliance teams. ARK Invest Europe is also a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), participates in collaborative initiatives such as CDP’s Non-Disclosure Campaign, and is a member of organisations including ShareAction, and FAIRR. These affiliations support our commitment to continuous improvement in stewardship, engagement and the delivery of measurable environmental and social outcomes.

Dialshifter

This fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by…

.…by Investing in companies that are innovating across the food value chain to build a more sustainable, secure and fair food system for our planet. More specifically, companies that are

• advancing agri-science and digital and precision farming and water management technologies to produce food more efficiently, with less input resources and a reduced environmental impact and carbon footprint;
• addressing the demands of conscious consumers for plant-based foods which have a much reduced impact on forests, biodiversity and carbon emissions than animal protein; or
• innovating in food and ingredient safety and testing and sustainable, reusable and recyclable packaging solutions.

SDR Labelling:

Not eligible to use label (out of scope)