Strategy. To achieve the Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolios investment objective, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the Advisor) implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolios design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisors research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisors portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs. The Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of securities within a market capitalization weighted universe (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the universe it … Show more… To achieve the Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolios investment objective, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the Advisor) implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolios design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisors research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisors portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs. The Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of securities within a market capitalization weighted universe (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies associated with emerging markets authorized for investment by the Advisors Investment Committee (Approved Markets), which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development) (the "Emerging Markets Universe"). The Portfolio invests in companies of all sizes and seeks to moderately increase the Portfolios exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the Emerging Markets Universe, while adjusting the composition of the Portfolio based on sustainability considerations. The Portfolio may seek to achieve a moderately increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolios assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the Emerging Markets Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time. Additionally, the representation of securities in the Portfolio as compared to their representation in the Emerging Markets Universe may be affected by the Portfolio's sustainability considerations. The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolios exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a companys price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a companys investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a companys investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets equity investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Markets securities. The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuers domicile country. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies). The Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Markets or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. The above-referenced investments are not subject to, although they may incorporate, the Portfolios sustainability considerations. The Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income. The Advisor intends to take into account certain sustainability considerations when making investment decisions for the Emerging Markets Sustainability Core Portfolio. Relative to a fund without these considerations that otherwise has the same investment objective, strategies, and policies as the Portfolio, the Portfolio will generally have excluded, and have less overall weight in, securities of companies that, according to the Portfolios sustainability considerations, may be less sustainable as compared to other companies in the Portfolios investment universe. Similarly, relative to such a fund, the Portfolio will generally have more overall weight in securities of companies that, according to the Portfolios sustainability considerations, may be more sustainable as compared to other companies in the Portfolios investment universe. In particular, the Advisor ranks companies (i) relative to the broader equity market based on potential emissions from reserves and scaled potential emissions from reserves and the securities of the worst-ranking companies are generally underweighted or excluded, (ii) relative to the applicable universe of securities based on carbon intensity and the securities of the worst-ranking companies are generally underweighted or excluded and (iii) relative to their sector peers based primarily on carbon intensity, but also considering several other factors, including controversies related to land use and biodiversity, toxic spills and releases, operational waste, and water management, and the securities of the worst-ranking companies are generally underweighted or excluded and the securities of the remaining companies are generally overweighted or neutral-weighted. In addition, the Advisor seeks to exclude securities of companies based on sustainability considerations relating to coal, factory farming, palm oil, cluster munitions and landmines, tobacco, child labor, civilian firearms, private prisons, and material involvement in severe environmental, social, or governance controversies that indicate operations inconsistent with responsible business conduct standards (such as those defined by the United Nations Global Compact Principles and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises). For a more detailed description of these sustainability considerations, see Applying the Portfolios Sustainability Considerations. The Advisor engages third party service providers to provide research information relating to the Portfolios sustainability considerations with respect to securities in the Portfolio, where information is available from such providers. The Advisor also may use, or supplement third party service providers data with, proprietary research relating to certain sustainability considerations where information is not available or has not been obtained from third party service providers engaged by the Advisor. The Advisor periodically reviews the Portfolios sustainability considerations and the Portfolio may periodically modify, add, or remove sustainability considerations. Show less