Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

Objectives and Investment Policy

The Share Class is a share class of a Fund which aims to achieve a return on your investment, through a combination of capital growth and income on the Fund’s assets, which reflects the return of the iBoxx MSCI ESG GBP Liquid Investment Grade Ultrashort Index, the Fund’s benchmark index (Index).

The Share Class, via the Fund is passively managed and aims to invest so far as possible and practicable in the fixed income (FI) securities (such as bonds) that make up the Index and comply with its credit rating requirements.

The Index measures the performance of Sterling denominated, investment grade, ultrashort FI securities (including corporate bonds, quasi-sovereign bonds, subsovereign bonds and covered bonds) which are part of the iBoxx GBP Liquid Investment Grade Ultrashort Index (Parent Index). To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, the FI securities must have a time to maturity, at issuance, of at least one year, and at the time of their inclusion in the Index, a remaining time to maturity of less than or equal to one year for fixed coupon rate bonds and less than or equal to three years for floating rate notes.

The Index excludes companies from the Parent Index which are identified by the index provider as being involved in controversial, conventional or nuclear weapons, civilian firearms, tobacco, adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling, nuclear power, genetically modified organisms, oil sands, thermal coal, unconventional oil and gas and fossil fuel. The index provider defines what constitutes “involvement” in each restricted activity which may be by reference to specific revenue thresholds or by any connection to an activity.

The Index also excludes companies based on their involvement in major ESG controversies or which have an MSCI ESG rating below BBB.

The Fund may obtain limited exposure to securities (including through financial derivative instruments (FDIs) (i.e. investments the prices of which are based on one or more underlying assets) and units in collective investment schemes) considered not to satisfy these ESG criteria.

The Fund adopts a best-in-class approach to sustainable investing, meaning it is expected to invest in the best issuers from an ESG perspective (based on the ESG criteria of the Index) within each relevant sector of activities covered by the Index.

The Index is market capitalisation weighted (with a cap on each issuer of 4%). Market capitalisation is the market value of the outstanding bond issuance.

The Fund's investment in FI securities will, at the time of purchase, comply with the credit rating and ESG requirements of the Index. Where securities no longer meet such requirements, the Fund may continue to hold them until they cease to form part of the Index and it is practicable to sell them.

The Fund uses optimising techniques to achieve a similar return to its Index. These may include the strategic selection of certain securities that make up the Index or other FI securities which provide similar performance to certain constituent securities. These may also include the use of FDIs. FDIs may be used for direct investment purposes.

(Source: KIID, as at February 2025)

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:

Teams with sustainability-related areas of focus:

Sustainable & Transition Solutions team (30+ professionals) leads BlackRock's sustainability and transition strategy, drives cross-functional change, supports client and external engagement, powers product ideation, and embeds sustainable expertise across the firm in partnership with other teams.     

Sustainable Investment Research & Analytics (10+ professionals) within the BlackRock Investment Institute produces thought leadership and research on the implications of the transition on portfolio construction. They produce macro and portfolio research, including integrating climate into BlackRock's Capital Market assumptions ("CMAs").

BlackRock Investment Stewardship (60+ professionals) serves as an important link between clients and the companies they invest in, engaging with investee company leadership and proxy voting at shareholder meetings when authorized by clients to do so. Where appropriate, BIS engages with companies on climate-related issues

BlackRock Active Investment Stewardship (10+ professionals) partners with BlackRock’s active investment teams on company engagement and voting in relation to their holdings.  BAIS was established in January 2025 to more closely align the range of investment strategies on the active investment platform. 

Corporate Sustainability leads efforts to drive operational sustainability, establish sustainable business programs and policies, and engage key stakeholders on BlackRock’s contribution towards the low-carbon transition and establish BlackRock’s operational sustainability goals.

 Sustainability incorporated into broader functional responsibilities:

Investment Divisions: BlackRock investment divisions include Portfolio Management Group, Global Markets & Index Investments, and Equity Private Markets. Active portfolio teams manage exposure to financially material E, S, and/or G risks, and consider financially material E, S, and/or G information in their investment processes, as applicable and consistent with client goals. Investment teams can often have sustainability-focused units (e.g. Fixed Income ESG Investment Team), as well as investment themes dedicated to sustainable funds (e.g Decarbonization Partners, and Climate Infrastructure)

Risk & Quantitative Analysis Group (RQA) is BlackRock's risk management function. The group is responsible for BlackRock’s Investment and Enterprise risk management frameworks and serves as a key part of the second line of defense along with BlackRock Legal and Compliance. RQA evaluates investment risks, including financially material E, S and/or G risks as part of regular investment risk management processes and, where applicable, during regular reviews with portfolio managers. This helps to ensure that such risks are understood, deliberate, and consistent with client objectives. RQA also has a dedicated Sustainability Risk group that partners with risk managers and businesses to oversee sustainability risk across the platform.

Global Product Solutions leads sustainable product innovation and development, governance, and strategy across the global product platform.

Government Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) strives to engage constructively in financial services public policy dialogue, including in relation to climate risk and sustainability disclosures, through participation in industry initiatives, engagement with regulators and standard setters around the world, and through the whitepapers, comment letters and consultation responses regularly published on BlackRock's website.

Aladdin makes available climate and ESG data and physical and transition risk analytics into investors' workflows, regulatory reporting, and decarbonization/temperature alignment analysis delivered through Aladdin. The Aladdin Sustainability Lab (90+ professionals) oversees Aladdin's sustainability-, transition-, and climate-related data, analytics and innovation, including BlackRock’s Aladdin Climate platform.

Enterprise Services includes the Health & Safety team which monitors adherence to local environmental regulations. The Corporate Real Estate, Space Planning, Critical Infrastructure and Workplace Experience teams work alongside key stakeholders such as the employee-run Green Team Network ("GTN") to plan and implement sustainability efforts in offices. The Business Continuity Management team manages disaster recovery planning, strategy, and crisis management activities. 

SDR Labelling:

Not eligible to use label (out of scope)