The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Morningstar® Global Emerging Green Technologies Select IndexSM (the “Underlying Index”), which measures the performance of equity securities issued by U.S. and non-U.S. companies involved in breakthrough innovations and new technologies that seek to address or combat climate change, as determined by Morningstar or its affiliates (“Morningstar” or the “Index Provider”).
To construct the Underlying Index, the Index Provider begins with securities from the Morningstar Global Markets ex India Index (the “Parent Index”) and applies a number of exclusions. The Index Provider excludes constituents with an average three-month trailing daily trading volume of less than $2 million or a free float market capitalization of less than $300 million.
The Index Provider also excludes the securities of companies that it identifies as being involved in the business of tobacco, companies involved with controversial weapons, producers and retailers of civilian firearms, and companies involved in thermal coal mining, thermal coal-based power generation or the extraction of oil sands. Certain exclusions (e.g.,controversial and nuclear weapons or the production of tobacco products) are categorical, and other exclusions are based on percentage of revenue or ownership thresholds. Additionally, the Index Provider excludes companies that it determines are involved in controversies related to the ten United Nations Global Compact (“UNGC”) principles, which are classified into four categories: human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, as well as companies for which a third party data provider, Sustainalytics, has assigned a controversy score of 5 (indicating the company experienced an event with a severe impact on the environment and society), or for which the Index Provider has not assigned a controversy score. The Index Provider will apply a series of revenue screens on the resulting eligible constituents.
First, Morningstar equity analysts evaluate each company’s revenue that is derived from “sustainable activities involvement,” as calculated by the Index Provider. Sustainable activities involvement could include the distribution and management of energy efficient materials or products, or pollution remediation services. The Index
Provider determines whether a company has sustainable activities involvement revenue by breaking down the companywide revenue into the following eight sustainable themes: Energy Efficiency, Green Buildings, Green Transportation, Pollution Prevention & Reduction, Renewable Energy, Resource Efficiency Technologies & Services, Sustainable Agriculture, Food & Forestry, and Water. The Index Provider applies the first revenue screen, excluding companies with a total sustainable activities involvement revenue of less than 25% from the Underlying Index.
Following the first revenue screen, Morningstar equity analysts research the products or services identified within the eight sustainable themes to determine whether the products or services fall within the following categories, as defined by Morningstar: “green technologies”, “green services”or “green certifications.” Green technologies are products and services that are highly innovative toward sustainability. Green services are services which rely on innovative technologies developed by other companies. Green certified means that an industry regulator or other third party has certified the product or service as sustainable or has certified the elements within the supply chain of the product or service as sustainable. Morningstar equity analysts consider various metrics to make this determination (e.g., research and development as a percentage of revenue and company-level patent application data). Morningstar excludes all revenue tied to products and services classified as “green services”or “green certified.” Morningstar reviews the green technologies and
assesses whether each qualifies as an “emerging green technology.”
The products and services classified as “green technologies” are assessed by Morningstar equity analysts and distributed within the Rogers Innovation Adoption Curve (“Adoption Curve”). The Adoption Curve is a theory created by Professor Everett Rogers that explains the rate at which the population adopts a new product, service, or technology over time, and which labels each product or service as one of five adoption stages: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. Morningstar assesses a product or service’s total addressable market and current market share to determine the adoption stage. Morningstar Equity Research classifies the products and services that are labeled Innovators, Early Adopters, and Early Majority as “emerging green technologies”. Once Morningstar identifies the emerging green technologies, Morningstar applies a second revenue screen: companies with 25% or more of their revenue represented by emerging green technologies are eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index.
Following the second revenue screen, the resulting constituents receive an innovation score based on their products’ and/or services’ adoption stage, as follows: • Innovation Score of 1: Early Majority • Innovation Score of 2: Early Adopters • Innovation Score of 3: Innovators
The Index Provider calculates a company-level aggregate score by multiplying the company’s revenue percentage of each product and/or service identified as an emerging green technology within each of the eight
sustainable themes, and the product and/or service’s innovation score, creating a “product score”. Each product score is summed across the company’s products and/or services, resulting in the company’s aggregate score. For example, suppose Morningstar analyzed Company A’s products and services across the eight sustainable themes, and found that 71.7% of Company A’s revenue is allocated to the Energy Efficiency theme from Product X, and 28.3% of its revenue is allocated to the Green Transportation theme from Product Y. Morningstar has determined both products are emerging green technologies and that Product X is an “innovator” on the Adoption Curve, earning an innovation score of 3, and Product Y is an “early adopter,” earning an innovation score of 2. Each products’ revenues are multiplied by their respective innovation scores to determine their product scores. Product X’s resulting product score is 2.15 (71.7% times 3), and Product Y’s resulting product score is 0.57 (28.3% times 2). Company A’s resulting aggregate score is 2.72, resulting in a Tier 1 designation.
Once Morningstar calculates each constituent’s aggregate score, Morningstar designates each constituent as either Tier 1 or Tier 2 based on their aggregate score. Tier 1 issuers are those with an aggregate score of 1.5 or higher. Tier 2 issuers are those with an aggregate score of less than 1.5. All Tier 1 constituents are selected for the Underlying Index. Morningstar ranks Tier 2 issuers with preference given to issuers with a higher aggregate score over a lower aggregate score, then a smaller market capitalization over a larger market
capitalization. If there are fewer than 50 Tier 1 constituents, the shortfall is filled with Tier 2 constituents, and the Underlying Index is capped at 50 constituents.
Constituents are float market capitalization-weighted with a 6% cap for individual stocks and each industry is capped at 15%. Additionally, individual constituents with weights of 4.5% or greater in aggregate cannot compose more than 45% of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index is reconstituted annually each December and rebalanced quarterly. The Index Provider does not require that each of the eight sustainable themes be included in the Underlying Index, nor does it require the inclusion of a minimum number of Tier 1 constituents. In addition, constituents may operate business lines that generate revenues in industries in addition to those related to breakthrough innovations and new technologies and may be associated with multiple industries or sectors.
The Underlying Index includes small-, mid- and large-capitalization companies and may change over time. As of July 31, 2023, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented by securities of companies in the consumer discretionary, industrials and technology industries or sectors. As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index consisted of securities from the following countries: Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom (the “U.K.”) and the U.S.
BFA uses an indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment
companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index.
The Fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in the component securities of the Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of the Underlying Index (i.e., depositary receipts representing securities of the Underlying Index) and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of
money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by Morningstar, which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.