Strategy. The Fund, under normal circumstances, seeks to invest at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus the amount of any borrowings made for investment purposes) in securities included in the Morningstar US Sustainability Index (the Index), including depositary receipts representing securities of the Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index, which is designed to provide broad U.S. equity market exposure with lower ESG risk. The Index includes large- and mid-capitalization companies and employs a best-in-class stock selection process to reduce exposure to companies with high ESG risk relative to their sector peers, targeting coverage of 50% of the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Index (the parent index) by float-adjusted market capitalization. Sector constraints are applied … Show more… The Fund, under normal circumstances, seeks to invest at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus the amount of any borrowings made for investment purposes) in securities included in the Morningstar US Sustainability Index (the Index), including depositary receipts representing securities of the Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index, which is designed to provide broad U.S. equity market exposure with lower ESG risk. The Index includes large- and mid-capitalization companies and employs a best-in-class stock selection process to reduce exposure to companies with high ESG risk relative to their sector peers, targeting coverage of 50% of the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Index (the parent index) by float-adjusted market capitalization. Sector constraints are applied to preserve market-like exposure. The Funds investments will be concentrated in certain industries to the extent such industries are represented in the Index. As of December 31, 2024, the Index consisted of 335 constituents identified by Morningstar Indexes (the Index Provider) and the full market capitalization range was $1.35 billion to $3.29 trillion. The number of constituents in the Index is subject to the selection and eligibility criteria at the time of reconstitution. The Index is reconstituted semi-annually and implemented after the close of business on the third Friday of June and December and is effective the following Monday. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and implemented after the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December and is effective the following Monday. If Monday is a holiday, reconstitution or rebalancing is effective on the following business day. The Index Provider defines sustainable investing as an approach that takes into account ESG factors and their impact throughout the investment process. All constituents within the Index must meet the following criteria in sequence: (i) the security must have a current Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating and Sustainalytics Controversy Score, (ii) the securitys Controversy Score must be 3 out of 5, or lower, (iii) the security must not have a Severe Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating, and (iv) the company must not derive more than 50% of its revenue from tobacco products, not have any involvement in the production of controversial weapons (land mines, for example) as defined by third-party Sustainalytics Global Compact Compliance Service exclusionary lists, not have any involvement in the manufacturing and sale of firearms to civilian customers, and not have any involvement in the manufacturing and sale of key components of small arms. The Index Provider selects the best-in-class companies in priority order of their Sustainalytics ESG Risk Ratings until they reach 50% coverage by float-adjusted market capitalization of the parent index. The companies with the lowest possible ESG Risk Ratings are selected for the Index, subject to sector weight constraints relative to the parent index. Sustainalytics ESG Risk Ratings are designed to help investors identify and understand financially material ESG risks in their portfolio companies. Sustainalytics ESG Risk Ratings measure the degree to which a companys economic value is driven by the magnitude of a companys unmanaged ESG risks. Sustainalytics ESG Risk Ratings are composed of three building blocks that contribute to a companys overall rating. These building blocks include Corporate Governance, material ESG issues (MEIs), and idiosyncratic ESG issues. To be considered relevant in the ESG Risk Ratings, an issue must have a potentially substantial impact on the economic value of a company and, hence, its financial risk- and return profile from an investment perspective. The ESG Risk Rating is forward looking in the sense that it identifies these issues based on the typical business model and business environment a company is operating in. The final ESG Risk Rating score is calculated as the sum of all unmanaged risk. To determine unmanaged risk, Sustainalytics reviews three building blocks: Corporate Governance, MEIs, and idiosyncratic ESG issues. Based on their quantitative scores, companies are grouped into one of five risk categories (negligible, low, medium, high, severe) per the chart below. A low score indicates a low level of ESG risk. ESG Risk Rating Quantitative Score Negligible 0 - 9.99 Low 10 -19.99 Medium 20 - 29.99 High 30 - 39.99 Severe 40+ Mellon Investments Corporation, the Funds sub-adviser (Sub-Adviser), does not apply its own ESG screening criteria. The Sub-Adviser relies on the Index Provider to apply its screening criteria to portfolio companies included in the Index. The Fund employs a passive investment approach, called indexing, which attempts to replicate the investment performance of the Index through full replication or representative sampling. The Fund does not employ traditional methods of active investment management, which involves the buying and selling of securities based upon fundamental security analysis. The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all or substantially all of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index. When attempting to replicate an index such as the Index, portfolio turnover is generally reduced to security additions or deletions to the index, contract owner contributions and withdrawals, and reinvestment income. The Fund stays aligned with the benchmark automatically with the change in share price, due to the close similarity between the holdings of the Index and those of the Fund such that the replicated portfolio does not require rebalancing as a result of market movement. The Fund is managed and rebalanced to reflect the composition of the Index. The Fund may also invest in a combination of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and cash to maintain correlation to the Index to assist with the Index rebalances and to meet redemption or purchase requests. The Fund may invest in financial futures, a type of exchange-traded derivative that may be used to obtain exposure to a variety of underlying assets, to provide liquidity for cash flows, to hedge dividend accruals or for other purposes that facilitate meeting the Funds objective. The Funds use of financial futures is intended to assist replicating the investment performance of the Index. The Fund is a non-diversified fund, as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), and may invest more of its assets in fewer issuers than diversified mutual funds. From time to time, the Index may become diversified. During those times, the Fund will continue to track the performance of the Index, but the Fund will retain its non-diversified status even if its holdings become diversified. Show less