Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

Objectives and Investment Policy

The Fund aims to provide a return on your investment (generated through an increase in the value of the assets held by the Fund and/or income received from those assets) over the medium to long term (3 to 5 or more consecutive years beginning at the point of investment) in a manner consistent with the principles of sustainable investing.

The Fund invests globally at least 70% of its total assets in the equity securities (i.e. shares) of companies domiciled in, or whose main business is in, global developed markets. The Fund may also invest in emerging market companies.

The Investment Manager (IM) seeks to invest in a portfolio of companies that it considers sustainable, which are identified for this purpose as being companies with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, companies developing stronger ESG credentials and/or companies that produce, or otherwise enable, products and services that the Investment Manager considers are sustainability-focused. The ESG credentials looked for include (but are not limited to): companies
with low absolute and relative resource intensity, improving resource efficiency, helping others to reduce their use of resources, commitment to high health and safety standards, commitment to human capital management, fostering sustainable relationships with suppliers and customers, strong risk mitigation, capital allocation and remuneration supportive of long-term strategy and/or thoughtful board composition as it relates to diversity and the focus of its members.

Investment decisions are based on the IM’s fundamental research focusing on company-specific analysis that seeks to identify and select equity and equity-related securities that can, as a portfolio, deliver the Fund’s investment objective. The Fund’s portfolio is expected to be concentrated (i.e. a less diverse portfolio).

In applying its investment policy, the IM expects the Fund's portfolio to deliver a superior ESG  outcome versus the MSCI World Index (Index) as measured by the weighted average ESG rating of its investments and to have a lower carbon emission intensity than the Index (carbon intensity being measured in respect of each company in which the Fund invests as a measure of its carbon emissions relative to its capital). There can be no guarantee that these expectations will be met.

The IM will seek to exclude direct investment in companies with lower ESG scores (namely companies whose MSCI ESG rating is CCC).

The IM will take into account certain ESG characteristics when selecting the securities to be held directly by the Fund. In doing so, the IM will apply screens, whereby the IM will seek to limit and/or exclude direct investment (as applicable) in issuers which, in the opinion of the IM, have exposure to, or ties with, certain sectors.

Further details of these screens are set out in the Fund’s prospectus. They include, amongst others, the BlackRock EMEA Baseline Screens, for further details of which please refer to the BlackRock website at https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/literature/publication/blackrock-baseline-screens-in-europe-middleeast-and-africa.pdf

The Fund is actively managed and the IM has discretion to select the Fund's investments

(Source: KIID, as at January 2025)