Strategy. Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes in the equity securities of issuers located in countries with emerging markets and derivatives that have similar economic characteristics. Investments in derivatives are counted toward the Funds 80% policy to the extent that they provide investment exposure to the securities included within that policy or to one or more market risk factors associated with such securities. An emerging market is the market of any country that the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the United Nations or its authorities have determined to have a low or middle income economy. Countries with emerging markets can be found in regions such … Show more… Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes in the equity securities of issuers located in countries with emerging markets and derivatives that have similar economic characteristics. Investments in derivatives are counted toward the Funds 80% policy to the extent that they provide investment exposure to the securities included within that policy or to one or more market risk factors associated with such securities. An emerging market is the market of any country that the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the United Nations or its authorities have determined to have a low or middle income economy. Countries with emerging markets can be found in regions such as Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For this purpose, emerging markets include, but are not limited to, the markets of all countries that comprise the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the Benchmark). The Fund may also consider an issuer to be located in a country that has an emerging market if at least 50% of the issuers assets, gross revenues or profits in any one of the last two years represents assets or activities located in such countries. Equity securities include common stock and preferred stock. The Fund primarily seeks to buy common stock and may also invest in preferred stock. The Fund may invest in equity securities of any market capitalization. From time to time the Fund may invest in shares of companies through new issues or initial public offerings (IPOs). The Fund may also purchase convertible securities. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in equity securities of issuers domiciled in the Peoples Republic of China (China or the PRC and, for the purpose of this policy, excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and listed in China that are accessible through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program or the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect program (collectively, Stock Connect). To determine the Funds investable universe, Fund management will first seek to screen out certain issuers based on ESG criteria determined by BlackRock, subject to the considerations noted below. Such screening criteria principally includes: (i) issuers that derive more than zero percent revenue from the production of controversial weapons; (ii) issuers that derive more than zero percent revenue from the production of civilian firearms; (iii) issuers that derive more than zero percent revenue from the production of tobacco-related products; (iv) issuers that derive more than five percent of revenue from thermal coal generation, unless such issuers either (a) have made certain commitments to reduce climate impact or (b) derive at least fifty percent of revenue from alternative energy sources; (v) issuers that derive more than five percent of revenue from thermal coal mining; (vi) issuers that derive more than five percent of revenue from oil sands extraction; and (vii) issuers identified as violators of the United Nations Global Compact, which are globally accepted principles covering corporate behavior in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Fund may invest in green bonds of issuers that exceed the thresholds stated in (iv), (v) or (vi) above. The Fund relies on one or more third-party ratings agencies to identify issuers for purposes of the above screening criteria. Third-party rating agencies may base the above screening criteria on an estimate when revenue for a covered business activity is not disclosed by the issuer or publicly available. The Funds screening criteria is measured at the time of investment and is dependent upon information and data that may be incomplete, inaccurate, unavailable or estimated. Where the Funds criteria looks solely to third-party ratings or data, issuers are only screened to the extent such ratings or data have been assigned or made available by the third parties. This screening criteria is subject to change over time at BlackRocks discretion. In addition, the Fund may gain indirect exposure (through, including but not limited to, derivatives and investments in other investment companies) to issuers with exposures that are inconsistent with the ESG-related criteria used by BlackRock. The Fund will seek to invest in companies with sustainable business models which have a strong consideration for ESG risks and opportunities. Investment decisions are based on BlackRocks fundamental research focusing on bottom up (i.e., company-specific) analysis that seeks to identify and select equity and equity-related securities that can, as a portfolio, deliver the Funds investment objective. BlackRocks company-specific research uses techniques to assess equity characteristics such as strength of earnings, quality of balance sheet, cashflow trends and relative valuation, as well as assessing companies ESG practices. BlackRock also uses macro-economic and country level research to inform its equity selection and to identify opportunities where it considers particular countries may generate strong performance. BlackRock has a flexible allocation strategy with a focus on ESG principles which means that it does not have a persistent bias towards particular categories of investment, such as specific countries, industries or style factors (i.e., specific characteristics of companies that may be considered by Fund management to drive returns), but it may make allocation decisions based on such categories at particular times and will have a bias towards investments that BlackRock considers to have strong or improving ESG practices. The Fund seeks to maintain certain ESG characteristics, climate risk exposure and climate opportunities relative to the Benchmark. Specifically, the Fund generally seeks to invest in a portfolio of equity securities that, in BlackRocks view, (i) has an aggregate ESG assessment that is better than that of the Benchmark, (ii) has an aggregate carbon emissions assessment that is lower than that of the Benchmark and (iii) in the aggregate, includes issuers that BlackRock believes are better positioned to capture climate opportunities relative to the issuers in the Benchmark. The Fund may invest in other sectors that are not included in such assessments. The Fund may use derivatives, including options, futures, swaps (including, but not limited to, total return swaps, some of which may be referred to as contracts for difference) and forward contracts, both to seek to increase the return of the Fund and to hedge (or protect) the value of its assets against adverse movements in currency exchange rates, interest rates and movements in the securities markets. In order to manage cash flows into or out of the Fund effectively, the Fund may buy and sell financial futures contracts or options on such contracts. Derivatives are financial instruments whose value is derived from another security, a currency or an index, including, but not limited to, the Benchmark. The use of options, futures, swaps and forward contracts can be effective in protecting or enhancing the value of the Funds assets. Show less