Overview*

An extension of our ESG research focusing on lower carbon emission intensity levels, we demonstrate the flexibility and practicality of our ESG Solutions framework by establishing low water usage as the primary portfolio objective:

• A water usage reduction of 90% compared to the benchmark is set as an explicit portfolio objective, focusing on stocks with low water usage along with other attractive alpha attributes while controlling key risk exposures.
• Targeting additional ESG attributes helps avoid unintended exposures in other areas that harm the environment or society; the portfolio shows improvement in overall ESG exposure, along with improvement in the E, S, and G attributes.
• The resultant portfolio has a lower water usage level relative to the benchmark and also delivers modest outperformance while maintaining comparable risk relative to the underlying index.

* Portfolio objectives are not guaranteed. Past performance is not a guarantee or reliable indicator of future results.