Many of our iShares sustainable ETFs seek to track an index with business involvement screens. Business involvement screens seek to remove exposure to controversial business activities that may pose risks or violate an investor’s preferences. Learn more about the specific screens below.
INDEX SCREEN DEFINITIONS FOR THE ESG AWARE SUITE
Caption:
The definition for each screen.
| DEFINITION | |
| Civilian firearms | All companies classified as “Producer”. All companies classified as “Retailer” that earn 5% or more in revenue, or more than $20 million in revenue, from civilian firearms-related products. |
| Controversial weapons | All companies with any tie to Controversial Weapons (cluster munitions, landmines, depleted uranium weapons, biological/chemical weapons, blinding lasers, non-detectable fragments and incendiary weapons), as defined by the methodology of the MSCI Global Ex-Controversial Weapons Indexes available at https://www.msci.com/index-methodology. |
| Oil sands | This factor identifies the maximum percentage of revenue (either reported or estimated) greater than 5% that a company derives from oil sands extraction for a set of companies that own oil sands reserves and disclose evidence of deriving revenue from oil sands extraction. This factor does not include revenue from non-extraction activities (e.g. exploration, surveying, processing, refining); ownership of oil sands reserves with no associated extraction revenues; revenue from intra-company sales. |
| Thermal coal | All companies deriving 5% or more revenue (either reported or estimated) from the mining of thermal coal (including lignite, bituminous, anthracite and steam coal) and its sale to external parties. It excludes: revenue from metallurgical coal; coal mined for internal power generation (e.g. in the case of vertically integrated power producers); intra-company sales of mined thermal coal; and revenue from coal trading. All companies deriving 5% or more revenue (either reported or estimated) from the thermal coal based power generation. |
| Tobacco | All companies classified as “Producer” or “Licensor.” All companies classified as “Distributor”, “Retailer”, or “Supplier” that earn 15% or more of revenues from tobacco products. All companies classified as “Ownership by a Tobacco Company” or “Ownership of a Tobacco Company.” |
| SCREEN | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| Civilian firearms | All companies classified as “Producer”. All companies classified as “Retailer” that earn 5% or more in revenue, or more than $20 million in revenue, from civilian firearms-related products. |
| Controversial weapons | All companies with any tie to Controversial Weapons (cluster munitions, landmines, depleted uranium weapons, biological/chemical weapons, blinding lasers, non-detectable fragments and incendiary weapons), as defined by the methodology of the MSCI Global Ex-Controversial Weapons Indexes available at https://www.msci.com/index-methodology. |
| Oil sands | This factor identifies the maximum percentage of revenue (either reported or estimated) greater than 5% that a company derives from oil sands extraction for a set of companies that own oil sands reserves and disclose evidence of deriving revenue from oil sands extraction. This factor does not include revenue from non-extraction activities (e.g. exploration, surveying, processing, refining); ownership of oil sands reserves with no associated extraction revenues; revenue from intra-company sales. |
| Thermal coal | All companies deriving 5% or more revenue (either reported or estimated) from the mining of thermal coal (including lignite, bituminous, anthracite and steam coal) and its sale to external parties. It excludes: revenue from metallurgical coal; coal mined for internal power generation (e.g. in the case of vertically integrated power producers); intra-company sales of mined thermal coal; and revenue from coal trading. All companies deriving 5% or more revenue (either reported or estimated) from the thermal coal based power generation. |
| Tobacco | All companies classified as “Producer” or “Licensor.” All companies classified as “Distributor”, “Retailer”, or “Supplier” that earn 15% or more of revenues from tobacco products. All companies classified as “Ownership by a Tobacco Company” or “Ownership of a Tobacco Company.” |
Caption:
The definition for each screen.
| DEFINITION | |
| Civilian firearms | Excludes all researched companies classified as “Producer” of firearms and small arms ammunitions for civilian markets. It does not include companies that cater to the military, government, and law enforcement markets. Excludes all researched companies classified as a “Retailer” and deriving 5%, $20mn, or more aggregate revenue from the production and distribution (wholesale or retail) of firearms or small arms ammunition intended for civilian use. |
| Controversial weapons | Excludes all researched companies that manufacture biological and chemical weapons, including weapons that use pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and disease-causing biological agents, toxins, or chemical substances that have toxic properties to kill, injure, or incapacitate. Excludes all researched companies that manufacture key biological and chemical weapons components. Excludes all researched companies manufacturing cluster munitions whole weapons systems, components, or delivery platforms. Excludes all researched companies manufacturing landmines whole systems or components. Excludes all researched companies involved in the production of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, ammunition, and armor, including companies that manufacture armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot tracing rounds (APFSDS-T); Kinetic Energy Missiles made with DU penetrators; and DU-enhanced armor, including composite tank armor. |
| Oil sands | Excludes all researched companies deriving 5% or more revenue from oil sands extraction for a set of companies that own oil sands reserves and disclose evidence of deriving revenue from oil sands extraction. This factor does not include revenue from non-extraction activities (e.g. exploration, surveying, processing, refining); ownership of oil sands reserves with no associated extraction revenues; revenue from intra-company sales. |
| Thermal coal | Excludes all researched companies deriving 5% or more revenue from thermal coal-based power generation. Excludes all researched companies deriving 5% or more revenue from thermal coal mining. |
| Tobacco | Excludes all researched companies classified as a “Producer”. Excludes all researched companies classified as a “Distributor”, “Retailer”, or “Supplier” and deriving 15% or more aggregate revenue from the production, distribution, retail, supply, and licensing of tobacco-related products. |
| SCREEN | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| Civilian firearms | Excludes all researched companies classified as “Producer” of firearms and small arms ammunitions for civilian markets. It does not include companies that cater to the military, government, and law enforcement markets. Excludes all researched companies classified as a “Retailer” and deriving 5%, $20mn, or more aggregate revenue from the production and distribution (wholesale or retail) of firearms or small arms ammunition intended for civilian use. |
| Controversial weapons | Excludes all researched companies that manufacture biological and chemical weapons, including weapons that use pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and disease-causing biological agents, toxins, or chemical substances that have toxic properties to kill, injure, or incapacitate. Excludes all researched companies that manufacture key biological and chemical weapons components. Excludes all researched companies manufacturing cluster munitions whole weapons systems, components, or delivery platforms. Excludes all researched companies manufacturing landmines whole systems or components. Excludes all researched companies involved in the production of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, ammunition, and armor, including companies that manufacture armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot tracing rounds (APFSDS-T); Kinetic Energy Missiles made with DU penetrators; and DU-enhanced armor, including composite tank armor. |
| Oil sands | Excludes all researched companies deriving 5% or more revenue from oil sands extraction for a set of companies that own oil sands reserves and disclose evidence of deriving revenue from oil sands extraction. This factor does not include revenue from non-extraction activities (e.g. exploration, surveying, processing, refining); ownership of oil sands reserves with no associated extraction revenues; revenue from intra-company sales. |
| Thermal coal | Excludes all researched companies deriving 5% or more revenue from thermal coal-based power generation. Excludes all researched companies deriving 5% or more revenue from thermal coal mining. |
| Tobacco | Excludes all researched companies classified as a “Producer”. Excludes all researched companies classified as a “Distributor”, “Retailer”, or “Supplier” and deriving 15% or more aggregate revenue from the production, distribution, retail, supply, and licensing of tobacco-related products. |
For ESG Aware Fixed Income ETFs, please refer to the respective index methodology document for more information.
RELATED iSHARES FUNDS
The iShares ESG Aware Allocation ETFs provide exposure to a portfolio of underlying iShares ESG Aware ETFs. Each of the underlying ETFs each seek to track an index that applies business involvement screens. To view the screens for the equity ETFs, click the Equity tab. To view the screens for the fixed income ETFs, click the Fixed Income tab.