What can the BetaShares Australian Sustainability Leaders Fund actually invest in?
The fund's Statement of Investment Policy and Objectives (SIPO) defines the asset classes it can hold and the allowable target / min / max weights for each.
Strategic asset allocation ranges
| Asset class | Target | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australasian equities | 100% | — | — |
| Cash | — | 0% | 1% |
Mandate flexibility (sum of max − min across all ranges): 1%. Narrow range — index-tracking style with limited drift.
Explicit exclusions (19)
- Fossil fuels – direct (0%)
- Fossil fuels – service providers (>5% of revenue)
- Fossil fuels – largest global financiers as identified in Banktrack report
- Fossil fuels – largest global insurers as identified in Banktrack report
- Fossil fuels – high dependency sectors (except critical minerals miners and companies with sustainable practices)
- Gambling – casinos, manufacture of gaming products, poker machine operations (0%); distribution >5%
- Tobacco – production or manufacture (0%); sale >5%
- Armaments and militarism – manufacture of armaments and weapons (0%); significant services to military >5%
- Uranium and nuclear energy – uranium mining and nuclear energy (0%); products and services >5%
- Destruction of valuable environments (0%)
- Animal cruelty (0%)
- Chemicals of concern (0%)
- Mandatory detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons (0%)
- Alcohol – production >5%; sale >20%
- Junk foods – production or sale >33%
- Pornography – production (0%); distribution >5%
- Predatory lending (0%)
- Human and labour rights violations
- Board diversity – no women on board of directors
Responsible-investment approach
Certain funds are integrated financial products that apply ESG screens to exclude companies materially engaged in activities inconsistent with responsible investment considerations, including fossil fuels, gambling, tobacco, armaments, and other activities, and give preference to companies identified as Sustainability Leaders by a Responsible Investment Committee.
Derivatives policy
Derivatives may be used to manage cash flows, to more efficiently obtain the desired investment exposure and for currency hedging purposes; permitted instruments include futures, options or forward foreign exchange contracts, which may be exchange traded or transacted on an OTC basis.