Form 485BPOS
December 1, 2023
 
 
2023 Prospectus
iShares ESG Asset Allocation ETFs
iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF | EAOA | CBOE BZX
iShares ESG Aware Conservative Allocation ETF | EAOK | CBOE BZX
iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF | EAOR | CBOE BZX
iShares ESG Aware Moderate Allocation ETF | EAOM | CBOE BZX

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.




Table of Contents
iShares® and BlackRock® are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.
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iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF
Ticker: EAOAStock Exchange: Cboe BZX
Investment Objective
The iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF (the Fund) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of a portfolio of underlying equity and fixed income funds with positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics intended to represent an aggressive risk profile.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares Trust (the Trust) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (BFA) (the Investment Advisory Agreement) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the Prospectus). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other series of the Trust and iShares, Inc., provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee, through November 30, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to November 30, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)1
Management
Fees
Distribution
and Service
(12b-1) Fees
Other
Expenses2
Acquired Fund
Fees and
Expenses
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses After
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
0.18%
None
0.00%
0.16%
0.34%
(0.16)%
0.18%

1
Operating expenses paid by BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement exclude Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any.
2
The amount rounded to 0.00%.
Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$18
$76
$158
$398
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund and the iShares funds in which the Fund invests (each, an Underlying Fund and collectively, the Underlying Funds), may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when they buy and sell securities (or turn over their portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or Underlying Funds may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or Underlying Funds to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to Underlying Funds included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund’s performance. To the extent an Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 4% of the average value of its portfolio.
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Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is a fund of funds and seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in Underlying Funds that themselves seek investment results corresponding to their own respective underlying indexes each of which takes into account ESG characteristics. The Underlying Funds invest primarily in companies or issuers that exhibit positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics, as identified by the index provider of each Underlying Fund in distinct asset classes, such as large-, mid- or small-capitalization U.S. or non-U.S. equity, and the broad U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bond market; each such asset class has its own risk profile.
The BlackRock ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation Index (the Underlying Index) is composed of a portfolio of ESG-oriented equity and fixed income Underlying Funds and measures the performance of BlackRock Index Services, LLC’s (the Index Provider or BIS) fixed allocation strategy that is intended to represent an aggressive risk profile with an 80% allocation to equities and 20% allocation to fixed income, as defined by BIS. BIS’s estimation of an aggressive risk profile may differ from your own. The Underlying Index is rebalanced semi-annually after the market close on the last business day of April and October.
At each rebalancing, the Fund will adjust its portfolio to align with the 20% allocation to fixed income and 80% allocation to equity prescribed by the Index Provider. The Fund's allocation to fixed income and equity may fluctuate due to appreciation or depreciation in the market value of the Fund's assets. At each rebalance, the Underlying Index will include a fixed allocation of 80% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 20% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds. As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of approximately 81.4% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 18.5% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.
As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF and iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF. As of July 31, 2023, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented indirectly by securities of companies in the financials and information technology industries or sectors. The components of the Underlying Index are unlikely to change over time.
BFA uses an indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to beat the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fundand an Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the applicable Underlying Index.
The Fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its Underlying Index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
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Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below(either directly or through its investments in the Underlying Funds), any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share (NAV), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Certain key risks are prioritized below (with others following in alphabetical order), but the relative significance of any risk is difficult to predict and may change over time. You should review each risk factor carefully.
ESG Risk. To the extent that the Underlying Index uses criteria related to the ESG characteristics of issuers, this may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to the Fund and, as a result, the Fund may underperform other funds whose underlying index does not use ESG criteria. The Underlying Index’s use of ESG criteria may result in the Fund investing in, or allocating greater weight to, securities or market sectors that underperform the market as a whole or underperform other funds that use ESG criteria. In addition, the use of representative sampling may result in divergence of the Fund’s overall ESG characteristics or ESG risk from those of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider may evaluate security-level ESG data and, if applicable, ESG objectives or constraints that are relevant to the Underlying Index only at index reviews or rebalances. Securities included in the Underlying Index may cease to meet the relevant ESG criteria but may nevertheless remain in the Underlying Index and the Fund until the next review or rebalance by the Index Provider. As a result, certain securities in the Underlying Index, or the Underlying Index as a whole, may not meet the relevant ESG objectives or constraints at all times.
Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their values may be more volatile than those of other asset classes. Certain Underlying Funds invest in common stocks, which generally subjecttheir holders to more risks than preferred stocks and debt securities because common stockholders’ claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of the issuer.
Allocation Risk. The Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective depends upon the Index Provider's ability to develop a model that accurately assesses the Fund’s asset class allocation and selects the best mix of Underlying Funds and other ETFs. There is a risk that the Index Provider's evaluations and assumptions regarding asset classes or Underlying Funds, which are utilized as inputs in the model, may be incorrect in view of actual market conditions.
Investment in Underlying Funds Risk. The Fund invests substantially all of its assets inthe Underlying Funds, so the Fund’s investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Funds. The Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Funds and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Funds.
As the Underlying Funds, or the Fund’s allocations among the Underlying Funds, change from time to time, or to the extent that the total annual fund operating expenses of any Underlying Fund change, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.
Market Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, public health issues, recessions, the prospect or occurrence of a sovereign default or other financial crisis, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Funds and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's NAV.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Affiliated Fund Risk. In managing the Fund, BFA has the ability to select Underlying Funds and substitute Underlying Funds with other exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that it believes will achieve the Fund’s objective. BFA may be subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting Underlying Funds and substituting Underlying Funds with other ETFs because the fees paid to BFA by some Underlying Funds and other ETFs managed by BFA may be higher than the fees paid by other Underlying Funds. If an Underlying Fund or other ETF holds interests in an affiliated fund in excess of a certain amount, the Fund may be prohibited from purchasing shares of that Underlying Fund or other ETF.
S-3


Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Underlying Index or in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. Therecan be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk.  Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for exchange traded funds (ETFs), such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.
Currency Risk. Because the Fund's and the Underlying Funds' NAVs are determined in U.S. dollars, the Fund's NAV could decline if a currency of a non-U.S. market in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the Fund's NAV may change quickly and without warning.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Funds, the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund’s Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Derivatives Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest in certain types of derivatives contracts, including futures, options and swaps, which can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices than conventional securities, which can result in greater losses to the Fund.
Financials Sector Risk. The performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, adverse public perception, exposure concentration and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The impact of changes in regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impactan Underlying Fund.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund or an Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds when bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted, or the Fund or an Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Indexing Investment Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
S-4


Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Information Technology Sector Risk. Information technology companies face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence. They are also heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights. Companies in the information technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Companies in the software industry may be adversely affected by, among other things, the decline or fluctuation of subscription renewal rates for their products and services and actual or perceived vulnerabilities in their products or services.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or an Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fundor an Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or an Underlying Fund has exposure. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Management Risk. As the Fund or the Underlying Funds will not fully replicate their respective indexes, they are subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Model Risk. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Underlying Index's allocation model will achieve its intended results or maximize returns or minimize risk, or be appropriate for every investor seeking a particular risk profile.
National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that the underlying securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Funds trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of such an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's quote from the closed foreign market).The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be greater where a large portion of the Fund’s underlying securities or other instruments trade on that closed foreign market or when the foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.
Non-U.S. Securities Risk. Investments in the securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to the risks associated with investing in those non-U.S. markets, such as heightened risks of inflation or nationalization. The Fundor an Underlying Fund
may lose money due to political, economic and geographic events affecting issuers of non-U.S. securitiesor non-U.S. markets. In addition, non-U.S. securities markets may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to changes in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible at times.
S-5


Operational Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Funds and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security’s maturity, which may cause the Fundand the Underlying Funds to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income or return potential.
Reinvestment Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest a portion of its assets in short-term fixed-income instruments and, as a result, may be adversely affected if interest rates fall because they may have to invest in lower-yielding bondsas bonds mature.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The Fund and certain Underlying Funds invest in countries or regions whose economies are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund's investments. Through its holdings of securities of certain issuers, the Fund is specifically exposed to Asian Economic Risk, European Economic Risk and U.S. Economic Risk.
Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. The Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country’s or region’s security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.
Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, including legal, regulatory, currency and economic risks that are specific to Russia. In addition, investing in Russian securities involves risks associated with the settlement of portfolio transactions and loss of the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's ownership rights in its portfolio securities as a result of the system of share registration and custody in Russia. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals and Russian corporate and banking entities. A number of jurisdictions may also institute broader sanctions on Russia. Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (e.g., dividends), and prohibit Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from unfriendly states as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies, or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia’s economy and Russian companies in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund or an Underlying Fund may be unable to receive them. As a result of sanctions, the Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while the Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Fund’s ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.
Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Fundor an Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. The economy of Saudi Arabia is dominated by petroleum exports. A sustained decrease in petroleum prices could have a negative impact on all aspects of the economy. Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. There remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia, and there is no assurance of political stability in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Broker Risk.  There are a number of different ways of conducting transactions in equity securities in the Saudi Arabian market.  The Fund generally expects to conduct its transactions in a manner in which the Fund would not be limited by Saudi Arabian regulations to a single broker. However, there may be a limited number of brokers who can provide services to the Fund, which may have an adverse impact on the prices, quantity or timing of Fund transactions.
S-6


Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Funds has exposure.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Funds may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Funds could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fundor an Underlying Fund.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Tax Risk. Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s realized losses on sales of shares of an Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as wash sales. Distributions of short-term capital gains by an Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund’s capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of an Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences(including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of dividends or interest received by a Fund or distributions paid to a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s shareholders, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund or an Underlying Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. The Underlying Funds are also subject to tracking error risk in seeking to track their own performance of the applicable underlying indexes.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or an Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund'sor the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by its underlying index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem shares of the Fund or an Underlying Fund on days when the Fund or an Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
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Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.
Calendar Year by Year Returns1

1
The Fund’s year-to-date return as of September 30, 2023 was 7.19%.
The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 8.09% in the 4th quarter of 2022; the worst was -13.32% in the 2nd quarter of 2022.
Updated performance information, including the Fund’s current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).
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Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2022)
 
One Year
Since Inception
(Inception Date: 06/12/2020)
Return Before Taxes
-17.94%
5.50%
Return After Taxes on Distributions1
-18.36%
5.01%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares1
-10.40%
4.22%
BlackRock ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees,
expenses, or taxes)
-17.99%
5.56%
S&P Target Risk Aggressive Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)
-16.13%
3.95%

1
After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.
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Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. Jennifer Hsui, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the Portfolio Managers) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Ms. Hsui and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2020. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the bid-ask spread).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing
through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account (IRA), in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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iShares ESG Aware Conservative Allocation ETF
Ticker: EAOKStock Exchange: Cboe BZX
Investment Objective
The iShares ESG Aware Conservative Allocation ETF (the Fund) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of a portfolio of underlying equity and fixed income funds with positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics intended to represent a conservative risk profile.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares Trust (the Trust) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (BFA) (the Investment Advisory Agreement) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the Prospectus). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other series of the Trust and iShares, Inc., provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee, through November 30, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to November 30, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)1
Management
Fees
Distribution
and Service
(12b-1) Fees
Other
Expenses2
Acquired Fund
Fees and
Expenses
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses After
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
0.18%
None
0.00%
0.12%
0.30%
(0.12)%
0.18%

1
Operating expenses paid by BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement exclude Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any.
2
The amount rounded to 0.00%.
Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$18
$71
$144
$356
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund and the iShares funds in which the Fund invests (each, an Underlying Fund and collectively, the Underlying Funds), may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when they buy and sell securities (or turn over their portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or Underlying Funds may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or Underlying Funds to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to Underlying Funds included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund’s performance. To the extent an Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 4% of the average value of its portfolio.
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Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is a fund of funds and seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in Underlying Funds that themselves seek investment results corresponding to their own respective underlying indexes each of which takes into account ESG characteristics. The Underlying Funds invest primarily in companies or issuers that exhibit positive ESG characteristics, as identified by the index provider of each Underlying Fund in distinct asset classes, such as large-, mid- or small-capitalization U.S. or non-U.S. equity, and the broad U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bond market; each such asset class has its own risk profile.
The BlackRock ESG Aware Conservative Allocation Index (the Underlying Index) is composed of a portfolio of ESG-oriented equity and fixed income Underlying Funds and measures the performance of BIS’s fixed allocation strategy that is intended to represent a conservative risk profile with a 70% allocation to fixed income and a 30% allocation to equities, as defined by BIS. BIS’s estimation of a conservative risk profile may differ from your own. The Underlying Index is rebalanced semi-annually after the market close on the last business day of April and October.
At each rebalancing, the Fund will adjust its portfolio to align with the 70% allocation to fixed income and 30% allocation to equity prescribed by the Index Provider. The Fund's allocation to fixed income and equity may fluctuate due to appreciation or depreciation in the market value of the Fund's assets. At each rebalance, the Underlying Index will include a fixed allocation of 30% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 70% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds. As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of approximately 31.9% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 67.8% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.
As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF, and iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF. As of July 31, 2023, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented indirectly by treasury securities and securities of companies in the financials industry or sector. The components of the Underlying Index are unlikely to change over time.
BFA uses an indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to beat the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fundand an Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the applicable Underlying Index.
The Fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its Underlying Index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
S-12


Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below(either directly or through its investments in the Underlying Funds), any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share (NAV), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Certain key risks are prioritized below (with others following in alphabetical order), but the relative significance of any risk is difficult to predict and may change over time. You should review each risk factor carefully.
ESG Risk. To the extent that the Underlying Index uses criteria related to the ESG characteristics of issuers, this may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to the Fund and, as a result, the Fund may underperform other funds whose underlying index does not use ESG criteria. The Underlying Index’s use of ESG criteria may result in the Fund investing in, or allocating greater weight to, securities or market sectors that underperform the market as a whole or underperform other funds that use ESG criteria. In addition, the use of representative sampling may result in divergence of the Fund’s overall ESG characteristics or ESG risk from those of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider may evaluate security-level ESG data and, if applicable, ESG objectives or constraints that are relevant to the Underlying Index only at index reviews or rebalances. Securities included in the Underlying Index may cease to meet the relevant ESG criteria but may nevertheless remain in the Underlying Index and the Fund until the next review or rebalance by the Index Provider. As a result, certain securities in the Underlying Index, or the Underlying Index as a whole, may not meet the relevant ESG objectives or constraints at all times.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.
Allocation Risk. The Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective depends upon the Index Provider's ability to develop a model that accurately assesses the Fund’s asset class allocation and selects the best mix of Underlying Funds and other ETFs. There is a risk that the Index Provider's evaluations and assumptions regarding asset classes or Underlying Funds, which are utilized as inputs in the model, may be incorrect in view of actual market conditions.
Investment in Underlying Funds Risk. The Fund invests substantially all of its assets inthe Underlying Funds, so the Fund’s investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Funds. The Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Funds and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Funds.
As the Underlying Funds, or the Fund’s allocations among the Underlying Funds, change from time to time, or to the extent that the total annual fund operating expenses of any Underlying Fund change, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.
Market Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, public health issues, recessions, the prospect or occurrence of a sovereign default or other financial crisis, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Funds and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's NAV.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Affiliated Fund Risk. In managing the Fund, BFA has the ability to select Underlying Funds and substitute Underlying Funds with other exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that it believes will achieve the Fund’s objective. BFA may be subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting Underlying Funds and substituting Underlying Funds with other ETFs because the fees paid to BFA by some Underlying Funds and other ETFs managed by BFA may be higher than the fees paid by other Underlying Funds. If an Underlying Fund or other ETF holds interests in an affiliated fund in excess of a certain amount, the Fund may be prohibited from purchasing shares of that Underlying Fund or other ETF.
S-13


Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Underlying Index or in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. Therecan be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk.  Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
Currency Risk. Because the Fund's and the Underlying Funds' NAVs are determined in U.S. dollars, the Fund's NAV could decline if a currency of a non-U.S. market in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the Fund's NAV may change quickly and without warning.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Funds, the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund’s Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Derivatives Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest in certain types of derivatives contracts, including futures, options and swaps, which can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices than conventional securities, which can result in greater losses to the Fund.
Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their values may be more volatile than those of other asset classes. Certain Underlying Funds invest in common stocks, which generally subjecttheir holders to more risks than preferred stocks and debt securities because common stockholders’ claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of the issuer.
Financials Sector Risk. The performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, adverse public perception, exposure concentration and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The impact of changes in regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impactan Underlying Fund.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund or an Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds when bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted, or the Fund or an Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
S-14


Indexing Investment Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or an Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fundor an Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or an Underlying Fund has exposure. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Management Risk. As the Fund or the Underlying Funds will not fully replicate their respective indexes, they are subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Model Risk. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Underlying Index's allocation model will achieve its intended results or maximize returns or minimize risk, or be appropriate for every investor seeking a particular risk profile.
Operational Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Funds and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security’s maturity, which may cause the Fundand the Underlying Funds to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income or return potential.
Reinvestment Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest a portion of its assets in short-term fixed-income instruments and, as a result, may be adversely affected if interest rates fall because they may have to invest in lower-yielding bondsas bonds mature.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The Fund and certain Underlying Funds invest in countries or regions whose economies are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund's investments. Through its holdings of securities of certain issuers, the Fund is specifically exposed to Asian Economic Risk, European Economic Risk and U.S. Economic Risk.
Risk of Investing in China. Investments in Chinese securities, including certain Hong Kong-listed and U.S.-listed securities, subject the Fund or the Underlying Funds to risks specific to China. China may be subject to considerable degrees of economic, political and social instability. China is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time in comparison to developed markets. Over the last few decades, the Chinese government has undertaken reform of economic and market practices and has expanded the sphere of private ownership of property in China. However, Chinese markets generally continue to experience inefficiency, volatility and pricing anomalies resulting from governmental influence, a lack of publicly available information and/or political and social instability.
S-15


Chinese companies are also subject to the risk that Chinese authorities can intervene in their operations and structure. Internal social unrest or confrontations with neighboring countries, including military conflicts in response to such events, may also disrupt economic development in China and result in a greater risk of currency fluctuations, currency non-convertibility, interest rate fluctuations and higher rates of inflation.
China has experienced security concerns, such as terrorism and strained international relations. Additionally, China is alleged to have participated in state-sponsored cyberattacks against foreign companies and foreign governments. Actual and threatened responses to such activity and strained international relations, including purchasing restrictions, sanctions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Chinese government or Chinese companies, may impact China’s economy and Chinese issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Incidents involving China's or the region's security may cause uncertainty in Chinese markets and may adversely affect the Chinese economy and the Fund's investments. Export growth continues to be a major driver of China's rapid economic growth. Reduction in spending on Chinese products and services, supply chain diversification, institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers (including as a result of heightened trade tensions or a trade war between China and the U.S. or in response to actual or alleged Chinese cyber activity) or a downturn in any of the economies of China's key trading partners may have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. The Underlying Index may include companies that are subject to economic or trade restrictions (but not investment restrictions) imposed by the U.S. or other governments due to national security, human rights or other concerns of such government. So long as these restrictions do not include restrictions on investments, the Fund is generally expected to invest in such companies, consistent with its objective to track the performance of the Underlying Index.
Chinese companies, including Chinese companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges, are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements, accounting standards or auditor oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities in which the Fund invests may be less reliable or complete. Chinese companies with securities listed on U.S. exchanges may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements, which would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities. There may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Fund is not actively managed and does not select investments based on investor protection considerations.
Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, including legal, regulatory, currency and economic risks that are specific to Russia. In addition, investing in Russian securities involves risks associated with the settlement of portfolio transactions and loss of the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's ownership rights in its portfolio securities as a result of the system of share registration and custody in Russia. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals and Russian corporate and banking entities. A number of jurisdictions may also institute broader sanctions on Russia. Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (e.g., dividends), and prohibit Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from unfriendly states as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies, or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia’s economy and Russian companies in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund or an Underlying Fund may be unable to receive them. As a result of sanctions, the Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while the Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Fund’s ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.
Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Fundor an Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. The economy of Saudi Arabia is dominated by petroleum exports. A sustained decrease in petroleum prices could have a negative impact on all aspects of the economy. Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. There remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia, and there is no assurance of political stability in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Broker Risk.  There are a number of different ways of conducting transactions in equity securities in the Saudi Arabian market.  The Fund generally expects to conduct its transactions in a manner in which the Fund would not be limited by Saudi Arabian regulations to a single broker. However, there may be a limited number of brokers who can provide services to the Fund, which may have an adverse impact on the prices, quantity or timing of Fund transactions.
S-16


Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Funds has exposure.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Funds may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Funds could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fundor an Underlying Fund.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Tax Risk. Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s realized losses on sales of shares of an Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as wash sales. Distributions of short-term capital gains by an Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund’s capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of an Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences(including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of dividends or interest received by a Fund or distributions paid to a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s shareholders, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund or an Underlying Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. The Underlying Funds are also subject to tracking error risk in seeking to track their own performance of the applicable underlying indexes.
U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics and may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a government may cause the value of the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or an Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund'sor the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by its underlying index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem shares of the Fund or an Underlying Fund on days when the Fund or an Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
S-17


Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.
Calendar Year by Year Returns1

1
The Fund’s year-to-date return as of September 30, 2023 was 2.00%.
The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 3.83% in the 4th quarter of 2022; the worst was -8.04% in the 2nd quarter of 2022.
Updated performance information, including the Fund’s current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).
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Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2022)
 
One Year
Since Inception
(Inception Date: 06/12/2020)
Return Before Taxes
-15.29%
-1.36%
Return After Taxes on Distributions1
-15.95%
-1.93%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares1
-8.95%
-1.18%
BlackRock ESG Aware Conservative Allocation Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees,
expenses, or taxes)
-15.27%
-1.30%
S&P Target Risk Conservative Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)
-13.99%
-2.73%

1
After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.
S-19


Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. Jennifer Hsui, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the Portfolio Managers) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Ms. Hsui and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2020. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the bid-ask spread).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing
through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
S-20


iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF
Ticker: EAORStock Exchange: Cboe BZX
Investment Objective
The iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF (the Fund) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of a portfolio of underlying equity and fixed income funds with positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics intended to represent a growth risk profile.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares Trust (the Trust) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (BFA) (the Investment Advisory Agreement) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the Prospectus). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other series of the Trust and iShares, Inc., provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee, through November 30, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to November 30, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)1
Management
Fees
Distribution
and Service
(12b-1) Fees
Other
Expenses2
Acquired Fund
Fees and
Expenses
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses After
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
0.18%
None
0.00%
0.14%
0.32%
(0.14)%
0.18%

1
Operating expenses paid by BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement exclude Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any.
2
The amount rounded to 0.00%.
Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$18
$74
$151
$377
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund and the iShares funds in which the Fund invests (each, an Underlying Fund and collectively, the Underlying Funds), may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when they buy and sell securities (or turn over their portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or Underlying Funds may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or Underlying Funds to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to Underlying Funds included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund’s performance. To the extent an Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 5% of the average value of its portfolio.
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Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is a fund of funds and seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in Underlying Funds that themselves seek investment results corresponding to their own respective underlying indexes each of which takes into account ESG characteristics. The Underlying Funds invest primarily in companies or issuers that exhibit positive ESG characteristics, as identified by the index provider of each Underlying Fund in distinct asset classes, such as large-, mid- or small-capitalization U.S. or non-U.S. equity, and the broad U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bond market; each such asset class has its own risk profile.
The BlackRock ESG Aware Growth Allocation Index (the Underlying Index) is composed of a portfolio of ESG-oriented equity and fixed income Underlying Funds and measures the performance of BIS’s fixed allocation strategy that is intended to represent a growth risk profile with a 60% allocation to equities and 40% allocation to fixed income, as defined by BIS. BIS’s estimation of a growth risk profile may differ from your own. The Underlying Index is rebalanced semi-annually after the market close on the last business day of April and October.
At each rebalancing, the Fund will adjust its portfolio to align with the 40% allocation to fixed income and 60% allocation to equity prescribed by the Index Provider. The Fund's allocation to fixed income and equity may fluctuate due to appreciation or depreciation in the market value of the Fund's assets. At each rebalance, the Underlying Index will include a fixed allocation of 60% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 40% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds. As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of approximately 62.2% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 37.6% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.
As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF and iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF. As of July 31, 2023, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented indirectly by treasury securities and securities of companies in the financials and information technology industries or sectors. The components of the Underlying Index are unlikely to change over time.
BFA uses an indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to beat the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fundand an Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the applicable Underlying Index.
The Fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its Underlying Index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
S-22


Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below(either directly or through its investments in the Underlying Funds), any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share (NAV), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Certain key risks are prioritized below (with others following in alphabetical order), but the relative significance of any risk is difficult to predict and may change over time. You should review each risk factor carefully.
ESG Risk. To the extent that the Underlying Index uses criteria related to the ESG characteristics of issuers, this may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to the Fund and, as a result, the Fund may underperform other funds whose underlying index does not use ESG criteria. The Underlying Index’s use of ESG criteria may result in the Fund investing in, or allocating greater weight to, securities or market sectors that underperform the market as a whole or underperform other funds that use ESG criteria. In addition, the use of representative sampling may result in divergence of the Fund’s overall ESG characteristics or ESG risk from those of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider may evaluate security-level ESG data and, if applicable, ESG objectives or constraints that are relevant to the Underlying Index only at index reviews or rebalances. Securities included in the Underlying Index may cease to meet the relevant ESG criteria but may nevertheless remain in the Underlying Index and the Fund until the next review or rebalance by the Index Provider. As a result, certain securities in the Underlying Index, or the Underlying Index as a whole, may not meet the relevant ESG objectives or constraints at all times.
Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their values may be more volatile than those of other asset classes. Certain Underlying Funds invest in common stocks, which generally subjecttheir holders to more risks than preferred stocks and debt securities because common stockholders’ claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of the issuer.
Allocation Risk. The Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective depends upon the Index Provider's ability to develop a model that accurately assesses the Fund’s asset class allocation and selects the best mix of Underlying Funds and other ETFs. There is a risk that the Index Provider's evaluations and assumptions regarding asset classes or Underlying Funds, which are utilized as inputs in the model, may be incorrect in view of actual market conditions.
Investment in Underlying Funds Risk. The Fund invests substantially all of its assets inthe Underlying Funds, so the Fund’s investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Funds. The Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Funds and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Funds.
As the Underlying Funds, or the Fund’s allocations among the Underlying Funds, change from time to time, or to the extent that the total annual fund operating expenses of any Underlying Fund change, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.
Market Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, public health issues, recessions, the prospect or occurrence of a sovereign default or other financial crisis, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Funds and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's NAV.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Affiliated Fund Risk. In managing the Fund, BFA has the ability to select Underlying Funds and substitute Underlying Funds with other exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that it believes will achieve the Fund’s objective. BFA may be subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting Underlying Funds and substituting Underlying Funds with other ETFs because the fees paid to BFA by some Underlying Funds and other ETFs managed by BFA may be higher than the fees paid by other Underlying Funds. If an Underlying Fund or other ETF holds interests in an affiliated fund in excess of a certain amount, the Fund may be prohibited from purchasing shares of that Underlying Fund or other ETF.
S-23


Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Underlying Index or in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. Therecan be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk.  Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for exchange traded funds (ETFs), such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.
Currency Risk. Because the Fund's and the Underlying Funds' NAVs are determined in U.S. dollars, the Fund's NAV could decline if a currency of a non-U.S. market in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the Fund's NAV may change quickly and without warning.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Funds, the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund’s Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Derivatives Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest in certain types of derivatives contracts, including futures, options and swaps, which can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices than conventional securities, which can result in greater losses to the Fund.
S-24


Financials Sector Risk. The performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, adverse public perception, exposure concentration and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The impact of changes in regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impactan Underlying Fund.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund or an Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds when bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted, or the Fund or an Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Indexing Investment Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Information Technology Sector Risk. Information technology companies face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence. They are also heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights. Companies in the information technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Companies in the software industry may be adversely affected by, among other things, the decline or fluctuation of subscription renewal rates for their products and services and actual or perceived vulnerabilities in their products or services.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or an Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fundor an Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or an Underlying Fund has exposure. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Management Risk. As the Fund or the Underlying Funds will not fully replicate their respective indexes, they are subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Model Risk. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Underlying Index's allocation model will achieve its intended results or maximize returns or minimize risk, or be appropriate for every investor seeking a particular risk profile.
National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that the underlying securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Funds trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund’s
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or an Underlying Fund's shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of such an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's quote from the closed foreign market).The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be greater where a large portion of the Fund’s underlying securities or other instruments trade on that closed foreign market or when the foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.
Non-U.S. Securities Risk. Investments in the securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to the risks associated with investing in those non-U.S. markets, such as heightened risks of inflation or nationalization. The Fundor an Underlying Fund
may lose money due to political, economic and geographic events affecting issuers of non-U.S. securitiesor non-U.S. markets. In addition, non-U.S. securities markets may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to changes in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible at times.
Operational Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Funds and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security’s maturity, which may cause the Fundand the Underlying Funds to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income or return potential.
Reinvestment Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest a portion of its assets in short-term fixed-income instruments and, as a result, may be adversely affected if interest rates fall because they may have to invest in lower-yielding bondsas bonds mature.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The Fund and certain Underlying Funds invest in countries or regions whose economies are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund's investments. Through its holdings of securities of certain issuers, the Fund is specifically exposed to Asian Economic Risk, European Economic Risk and U.S. Economic Risk.
Risk of Investing in China. Investments in Chinese securities, including certain Hong Kong-listed and U.S.-listed securities, subject the Fund or the Underlying Funds to risks specific to China. China may be subject to considerable degrees of economic, political and social instability. China is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time in comparison to developed markets. Over the last few decades, the Chinese government has undertaken reform of economic and market practices and has expanded the sphere of private ownership of property in China. However, Chinese markets generally continue to experience inefficiency, volatility and pricing anomalies resulting from governmental influence, a lack of publicly available information and/or political and social instability.
Chinese companies are also subject to the risk that Chinese authorities can intervene in their operations and structure. Internal social unrest or confrontations with neighboring countries, including military conflicts in response to such events, may also disrupt economic development in China and result in a greater risk of currency fluctuations, currency non-convertibility, interest rate fluctuations and higher rates of inflation.
China has experienced security concerns, such as terrorism and strained international relations. Additionally, China is alleged to have participated in state-sponsored cyberattacks against foreign companies and foreign governments. Actual and threatened responses to such activity and strained international relations, including purchasing restrictions, sanctions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Chinese government or Chinese companies, may impact China’s economy and Chinese issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Incidents involving China's or the region's security may cause uncertainty in Chinese markets and may adversely affect the Chinese economy and the Fund's investments. Export growth continues to be a major driver of China's rapid economic growth. Reduction in spending on Chinese products and services, supply chain diversification, institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers (including as a result of heightened trade tensions or a trade war between China and the U.S. or in response to actual or alleged Chinese cyber activity) or a downturn in any of the economies of China's key trading partners may have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. The Underlying Index may include companies that are subject to economic or trade restrictions (but not investment restrictions) imposed by the U.S. or other governments due to national security, human rights or other concerns of such government. So long as these restrictions do not include restrictions on investments, the Fund is generally expected to invest in such companies, consistent with its objective to track the performance of the Underlying Index.
Chinese companies, including Chinese companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges, are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements, accounting standards or auditor oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the
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Chinese securities in which the Fund invests may be less reliable or complete. Chinese companies with securities listed on U.S. exchanges may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements, which would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities. There may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Fund is not actively managed and does not select investments based on investor protection considerations.
Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. The Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country’s or region’s security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.
Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, including legal, regulatory, currency and economic risks that are specific to Russia. In addition, investing in Russian securities involves risks associated with the settlement of portfolio transactions and loss of the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's ownership rights in its portfolio securities as a result of the system of share registration and custody in Russia. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals and Russian corporate and banking entities. A number of jurisdictions may also institute broader sanctions on Russia. Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (e.g., dividends), and prohibit Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from unfriendly states as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies, or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia’s economy and Russian companies in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund or an Underlying Fund may be unable to receive them. As a result of sanctions, the Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while the Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Fund’s ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.
Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Fundor an Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. The economy of Saudi Arabia is dominated by petroleum exports. A sustained decrease in petroleum prices could have a negative impact on all aspects of the economy. Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. There remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia, and there is no assurance of political stability in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Broker Risk.  There are a number of different ways of conducting transactions in equity securities in the Saudi Arabian market.  The Fund generally expects to conduct its transactions in a manner in which the Fund would not be limited by Saudi Arabian regulations to a single broker. However, there may be a limited number of brokers who can provide services to the Fund, which may have an adverse impact on the prices, quantity or timing of Fund transactions.
Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Funds has exposure.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Funds may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Funds could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fundor an Underlying Fund.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
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Tax Risk. Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s realized losses on sales of shares of an Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as wash sales. Distributions of short-term capital gains by an Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund’s capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of an Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences(including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of dividends or interest received by a Fund or distributions paid to a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s shareholders, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund or an Underlying Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. The Underlying Funds are also subject to tracking error risk in seeking to track their own performance of the applicable underlying indexes.
U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics and may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a government may cause the value of the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or an Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund'sor the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by its underlying index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem shares of the Fund or an Underlying Fund on days when the Fund or an Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
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Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.
Calendar Year by Year Returns1

1
The Fund’s year-to-date return as of September 30, 2023 was 5.10%.
The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 6.31% in the 4th quarter of 2022; the worst was -11.21% in the 2nd quarter of 2022.
Updated performance information, including the Fund’s current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).
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Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2022)
 
One Year
Since Inception
(Inception Date: 06/12/2020)
Return Before Taxes
-16.90%
2.78%
Return After Taxes on Distributions1
-17.40%
2.26%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares1
-9.84%
2.06%
BlackRock ESG Aware Growth Allocation Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees,
expenses, or taxes)
-16.90%
2.84%
S&P Target Risk Growth Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)
-15.27%
1.30%

1
After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.
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Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. Jennifer Hsui, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the Portfolio Managers) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Ms. Hsui and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2020. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the bid-ask spread).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing
through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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iShares ESG Aware Moderate Allocation ETF
Ticker: EAOMStock Exchange: Cboe BZX
Investment Objective
The iShares ESG Aware Moderate Allocation ETF (the Fund) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of a portfolio of underlying equity and fixed income funds with positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics intended to represent a moderate risk profile.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares Trust (the Trust) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (BFA) (the Investment Advisory Agreement) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the Prospectus). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other series of the Trust and iShares, Inc., provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee, through November 30, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to November 30, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)1
Management
Fees
Distribution
and Service
(12b-1) Fees
Other
Expenses2
Acquired Fund
Fees and
Expenses
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses After
Fee Waiver
and/or
Expense
Reimbursement
0.18%
None
0.00%
0.13%
0.31%
(0.13)%
0.18%

1
Operating expenses paid by BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement exclude Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any.
2
The amount rounded to 0.00%.
Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$18
$73
$147
$367
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund and the iShares funds in which the Fund invests (each, an Underlying Fund and collectively, the Underlying Funds), may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when they buy and sell securities (or turn over their portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or Underlying Funds may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or Underlying Funds to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to Underlying Funds included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund’s performance. To the extent an Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 5% of the average value of its portfolio.
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Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is a fund of funds and seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in Underlying Funds that themselves seek investment results corresponding to their own respective underlying indexes each of which takes into account ESG characteristics. The Underlying Funds invest primarily in companies or issuers that exhibit positive ESG characteristics, as identified by the index provider of each Underlying Fund in distinct asset classes, such as large-, mid- or small-capitalization U.S. or non-U.S. equity, and the broad U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bond market; each such asset class has its own risk profile.
The BlackRock ESG Aware Moderate Allocation Index (the Underlying Index) is composed of a portfolio of ESG-oriented equity and fixed income Underlying Funds and measures the performance of BIS’s fixed allocation strategy that is intended to represent a moderate risk profile with a 60% allocation to fixed income and 40% allocation to equities, as defined by BIS. BIS’s estimation of a moderate risk profile may differ from your own. The Underlying Index is rebalanced semi-annually after the market close on the last business day of April and October.
At each rebalancing, the Fund will adjust its portfolio to align with the 60% allocation to fixed income and 40% allocation to equity prescribed by the Index Provider. The Fund's allocation to fixed income and equity may fluctuate due to appreciation or depreciation in the market value of the Fund's assets. At each rebalance, the Underlying Index will include a fixed allocation of 40% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 60% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds. As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of approximately 42.2% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in equity securities and 57.6% of its assets in Underlying Funds that invest primarily in U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.
As of July 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was comprised of the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF, and iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF. As of July 31, 2023, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented indirectly by treasury securities and securities of companies in the financials industry or sector. The components of the Underlying Index are unlikely to change over time.
BFA uses an indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to beat the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fundand an Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the applicable Underlying Index.
The Fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its Underlying Index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation,
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securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below(either directly or through its investments in the Underlying Funds), any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share (NAV), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Certain key risks are prioritized below (with others following in alphabetical order), but the relative significance of any risk is difficult to predict and may change over time. You should review each risk factor carefully.
ESG Risk. To the extent that the Underlying Index uses criteria related to the ESG characteristics of issuers, this may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to the Fund and, as a result, the Fund may underperform other funds whose underlying index does not use ESG criteria. The Underlying Index’s use of ESG criteria may result in the Fund investing in, or allocating greater weight to, securities or market sectors that underperform the market as a whole or underperform other funds that use ESG criteria. In addition, the use of representative sampling may result in divergence of the Fund’s overall ESG characteristics or ESG risk from those of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider may evaluate security-level ESG data and, if applicable, ESG objectives or constraints that are relevant to the Underlying Index only at index reviews or rebalances. Securities included in the Underlying Index may cease to meet the relevant ESG criteria but may nevertheless remain in the Underlying Index and the Fund until the next review or rebalance by the Index Provider. As a result, certain securities in the Underlying Index, or the Underlying Index as a whole, may not meet the relevant ESG objectives or constraints at all times.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.
Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their values may be more volatile than those of other asset classes. Certain Underlying Funds invest in common stocks, which generally subjecttheir holders to more risks than preferred stocks and debt securities because common stockholders’ claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of the issuer.
Allocation Risk. The Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective depends upon the Index Provider's ability to develop a model that accurately assesses the Fund’s asset class allocation and selects the best mix of Underlying Funds and other ETFs. There is a risk that the Index Provider's evaluations and assumptions regarding asset classes or Underlying Funds, which are utilized as inputs in the model, may be incorrect in view of actual market conditions.
Investment in Underlying Funds Risk. The Fund invests substantially all of its assets inthe Underlying Funds, so the Fund’s investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Funds. The Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Funds and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Funds.
As the Underlying Funds, or the Fund’s allocations among the Underlying Funds, change from time to time, or to the extent that the total annual fund operating expenses of any Underlying Fund change, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.
Market Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, public health issues, recessions, the prospect or occurrence of a sovereign default or other financial crisis, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Funds and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's NAV.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual
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market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Affiliated Fund Risk. In managing the Fund, BFA has the ability to select Underlying Funds and substitute Underlying Funds with other exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that it believes will achieve the Fund’s objective. BFA may be subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting Underlying Funds and substituting Underlying Funds with other ETFs because the fees paid to BFA by some Underlying Funds and other ETFs managed by BFA may be higher than the fees paid by other Underlying Funds. If an Underlying Fund or other ETF holds interests in an affiliated fund in excess of a certain amount, the Fund may be prohibited from purchasing shares of that Underlying Fund or other ETF.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Underlying Index or in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. Therecan be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk.  Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
Currency Risk. Because the Fund's and the Underlying Funds' NAVs are determined in U.S. dollars, the Fund's NAV could decline if a currency of a non-U.S. market in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the Fund's NAV may change quickly and without warning.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Funds, the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund’s Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Derivatives Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest in certain types of derivatives contracts, including futures, options and swaps, which can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices than conventional securities, which can result in greater losses to the Fund.
Financials Sector Risk. The performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, adverse public perception, exposure concentration and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The impact of changes in regulation of any individual
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financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impactan Underlying Fund.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund or an Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds when bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted, or the Fund or an Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Indexing Investment Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or an Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fundor an Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or an Underlying Fund has exposure. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Management Risk. As the Fund or the Underlying Funds will not fully replicate their respective indexes, they are subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Model Risk. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Underlying Index's allocation model will achieve its intended results or maximize returns or minimize risk, or be appropriate for every investor seeking a particular risk profile.
National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that the underlying securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Funds trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of such an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's quote from the closed foreign market).The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be greater where a large portion of the Fund’s underlying securities or other instruments trade on that closed foreign market or when the foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
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Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.
Non-U.S. Securities Risk. Investments in the securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to the risks associated with investing in those non-U.S. markets, such as heightened risks of inflation or nationalization. The Fundor an Underlying Fund
may lose money due to political, economic and geographic events affecting issuers of non-U.S. securitiesor non-U.S. markets. In addition, non-U.S. securities markets may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to changes in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible at times.
Operational Risk. The Fundand the Underlying Funds are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Funds and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security’s maturity, which may cause the Fundand the Underlying Funds to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income or return potential.
Reinvestment Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest a portion of its assets in short-term fixed-income instruments and, as a result, may be adversely affected if interest rates fall because they may have to invest in lower-yielding bondsas bonds mature.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The Fund and certain Underlying Funds invest in countries or regions whose economies are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund's investments. Through its holdings of securities of certain issuers, the Fund is specifically exposed to Asian Economic Risk, European Economic Risk and U.S. Economic Risk.
Risk of Investing in China. Investments in Chinese securities, including certain Hong Kong-listed and U.S.-listed securities, subject the Fund or the Underlying Funds to risks specific to China. China may be subject to considerable degrees of economic, political and social instability. China is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time in comparison to developed markets. Over the last few decades, the Chinese government has undertaken reform of economic and market practices and has expanded the sphere of private ownership of property in China. However, Chinese markets generally continue to experience inefficiency, volatility and pricing anomalies resulting from governmental influence, a lack of publicly available information and/or political and social instability.
Chinese companies are also subject to the risk that Chinese authorities can intervene in their operations and structure. Internal social unrest or confrontations with neighboring countries, including military conflicts in response to such events, may also disrupt economic development in China and result in a greater risk of currency fluctuations, currency non-convertibility, interest rate fluctuations and higher rates of inflation.
China has experienced security concerns, such as terrorism and strained international relations. Additionally, China is alleged to have participated in state-sponsored cyberattacks against foreign companies and foreign governments. Actual and threatened responses to such activity and strained international relations, including purchasing restrictions, sanctions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Chinese government or Chinese companies, may impact China’s economy and Chinese issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Incidents involving China's or the region's security may cause uncertainty in Chinese markets and may adversely affect the Chinese economy and the Fund's investments. Export growth continues to be a major driver of China's rapid economic growth. Reduction in spending on Chinese products and services, supply chain diversification, institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers (including as a result of heightened trade tensions or a trade war between China and the U.S. or in response to actual or alleged Chinese cyber activity) or a downturn in any of the economies of China's key trading partners may have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. The Underlying Index may include companies that are subject to economic or trade restrictions (but not investment restrictions) imposed by the U.S. or other governments due to national security, human rights or other concerns of such government. So long as these restrictions do not include restrictions on investments, the Fund is generally expected to invest in such companies, consistent with its objective to track the performance of the Underlying Index.
Chinese companies, including Chinese companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges, are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements, accounting standards or auditor oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities in which the Fund invests may be less reliable or complete. Chinese companies with securities listed on U.S. exchanges may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements, which would significantly decrease the
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liquidity and value of the securities. There may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Fund is not actively managed and does not select investments based on investor protection considerations.
Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, including legal, regulatory, currency and economic risks that are specific to Russia. In addition, investing in Russian securities involves risks associated with the settlement of portfolio transactions and loss of the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's ownership rights in its portfolio securities as a result of the system of share registration and custody in Russia. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals and Russian corporate and banking entities. A number of jurisdictions may also institute broader sanctions on Russia. Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (e.g., dividends), and prohibit Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from unfriendly states as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies, or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia’s economy and Russian companies in which the Fund or an Underlying Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund or an Underlying Fund may be unable to receive them. As a result of sanctions, the Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while the Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Fund’s ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.
Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Fundor an Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. The economy of Saudi Arabia is dominated by petroleum exports. A sustained decrease in petroleum prices could have a negative impact on all aspects of the economy. Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of the Fund’sor Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. There remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia, and there is no assurance of political stability in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Broker Risk.  There are a number of different ways of conducting transactions in equity securities in the Saudi Arabian market.  The Fund generally expects to conduct its transactions in a manner in which the Fund would not be limited by Saudi Arabian regulations to a single broker. However, there may be a limited number of brokers who can provide services to the Fund, which may have an adverse impact on the prices, quantity or timing of Fund transactions.
Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Funds has exposure.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or an Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Funds may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Funds could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fundor an Underlying Fund.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Tax Risk. Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Funds, the Fund’s realized losses on sales of shares of an Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as wash sales. Distributions of short-term capital gains by an Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund’s capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of an Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.
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Tracking Error Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Funds may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences(including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of dividends or interest received by a Fund or distributions paid to a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s shareholders, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund or an Underlying Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. The Underlying Funds are also subject to tracking error risk in seeking to track their own performance of the applicable underlying indexes.
U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics and may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a government may cause the value of the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or an Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund'sor the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by its underlying index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem shares of the Fund or an Underlying Fund on days when the Fund or an Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
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Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.
Calendar Year by Year Returns1

1
The Fund’s year-to-date return as of September 30, 2023 was 3.03%.
The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 4.63% in the 4th quarter of 2022; the worst was -9.08% in the 2nd quarter of 2022.
Updated performance information, including the Fund’s current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).
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Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2022)
 
One Year
Since Inception
(Inception Date: 06/12/2020)
Return Before Taxes
-15.79%
0.04%
Return After Taxes on Distributions1
-16.32%
-0.50%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares1
-9.23%
-0.09%
BlackRock ESG Aware Moderate Allocation Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees,
expenses, or taxes)
-15.82%
0.09%
S&P Target Risk Moderate Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)
-14.41%
-1.38%

1
After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.
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Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. Jennifer Hsui, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the Portfolio Managers) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Ms. Hsui and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2020. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the bid-ask spread).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing
through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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More Information About the Funds
This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Funds. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Funds is available at www.iShares.com.
BFA is the investment adviser to the Funds. Shares of each Fund are listed for trading on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (Cboe BZX). The market price for a share of a Fund may be different from the Fund’s most recent NAV. Each Fund will have its own CUSIP number and exchange trading symbol.
ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly traded securities and are designed to track an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of a Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Funds may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Funds at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (Creation Units). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of each Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.
An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while each Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of each Fund and its Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between each Fund’s portfolio and its Underlying Index resulting from the Funds' use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to each Fund but not to its Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to a Fund's Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of a Fund's Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, a Fund's Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.
Tracking error is the divergence of the performance (return) of each Fund's portfolio from that of its Underlying Index. Because each Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. Replication is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.
An investment in a Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.
Each Fund's investment objective and its Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.
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Investment Objectives of the Funds
Each Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of a BlackRock ESG Asset Allocation Index (each, an Underlying Index and collectively, the Underlying Indexes). Each Underlying Index is comprised entirely of securities of iShares ESG funds (each, an Underlying Fund and collectively, the Underlying Funds) that themselves seek investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of their own respective underlying indexes. Each Fund is an ETF fund of funds and seeks its investment objective by investing primarily in Underlying Funds that are iShares ESG funds.

Note: The above chart is for illustrative purposes and is intended to represent the approximate allocation percentages of the Funds as of July 31, 2023, which are subject to change.
A Further Discussion of Principal Risks
Each Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund’s NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Each Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Funds. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Funds, and the Funds could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. Each Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at www.iShares.com.
Affiliated Fund Risk. In managing the Funds, BFA has the ability to select Underlying Funds and substitute Underlying Funds with other ETFs that it believes will achieve each Fund’s objective. BFA may be subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting Underlying Funds and substituting Underlying Funds with other ETFs because the fees paid to BFA by some Underlying Funds and other ETFs managed by BFA may be higher than the fees paid by other Underlying Funds. If an Underlying Fund or other ETF holds interests in an affiliated fund, the Funds may be prohibited from purchasing shares of that Underlying Fund or other ETF.
Allocation Risk. Each Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective depends upon the Index Provider’s ability to develop a model that accurately assesses each Fund’s asset class allocation and selects the best mix of Underlying Funds and other ETFs. There is a risk that the Index Provider’s evaluations and assumptions regarding asset classes or Underlying Funds, which are utilized as inputs in the model, may be incorrect in view of actual market conditions. Each Fund’s Underlying Index may overweight certain asset classes relative to market capitalization-weighted benchmarks. Each Fund will underperform such benchmarks when asset classes that are overweighted in each Fund’s Underlying Index underperform other asset classes.
Asian Economic Risk. Certain Asian economies have experienced rapid growth and industrialization in recent years, but there is no assurance that this growth rate will be maintained. Other Asian economies, however, have experienced high inflation, high unemployment, currency devaluations and restrictions, and over-extension of credit. Geopolitical hostility, political instability, and economic or environmental events in any one Asian country may have a significant economic effect on the entire Asian region, as well as on major trading partners outside Asia. Any adverse event in the Asian markets may have a significant adverse effect on some or all of the economies of the countries in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests. In particular, China is a key trading partner of many Asian countries and any changes in trading relationships between China and other Asian countries may affect the region as a whole. Many Asian countries are subject to political risk, including political instability, corruption and regional conflict with neighboring countries. North Korea and South Korea each have substantial military capabilities, and historical tensions between the two countries present the risk of war. Escalated tensions involving the two countries and any outbreak of hostilities between the two countries, or even the threat of an outbreak of hostilities, could have a severe adverse effect on the entire Asian region. Certain Asian countries have developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S. or with China, and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect Asian issuers that rely on the U.S. or China for trade. In
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addition, many Asian countries are subject to social and labor risks associated with demands for improved political, economic and social conditions. These risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of a Fund'sor an Underlying Fund's investments.
Asset Class Risk. The securitiesand other assets in the Underlying Indexes or in a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities, currencies and indexes may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause a Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, a Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of a Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in a Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow a Fund to achieve size or scale. Therecan be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of a Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact a Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. Each Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to a Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF and the iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provideres rely on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Funds nor BFA can offer assurances that the Indexes' calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.
Concentration Risk. Each Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. Each Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.
Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer’s or counterparty’s credit rating. There is the chance that a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (i.e., fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing such Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of each Fund or an Underlying Fund.
Currency Risk. Because the Funds' and the Underlying Funds' NAVs are determined on the basis of the U.S. dollar, investors may lose money if a currency of a non-U.S. market in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests depreciates against the U.S. dollar or if there are delays or limits on repatriation of such currency, even if such currency value of the Fund's holdings in that market increases. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, a Fund’s NAV may change quickly and without warning.
Cybersecurity Risk. Each Fund,Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related cyber risks both directly and through their service providers.  Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which each Fund or the Underlying Funds invest, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (e.g., through hacking or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access,
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such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Geopolitical tensions may increase the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.
Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Funds' or an Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which each Fund or the Underlying Funds invest have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of each Fund or each Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of each Fund or Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by each Fund or Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents. While each Fund and the Underlying Funds have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, each Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to each Fund, issuers in which each Fund invests, the Index Provider, market makers or Authorized Participants. Each Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.
Derivatives Risk. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset such as a security or an index. Each Fundand Underlying Fund may invest in certain types of derivatives contracts, including futures, options and swaps. Compared to conventional securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities.
Equity Securities Risk. Certain Underlying Funds invest in equity securities, which are subject to changes in value that may be attributable to market perception of a particular issuer or to general stock market fluctuations that affect all issuers. Investments in equity securities may be more volatile than investments in other asset classes. Certain Underlying Funds invest in common stocks, which generally subjecttheir holders to more risks than preferred stocks and debt securities because common stockholders' claims are subordinated to those of holders of preferred stocks and debt securities upon the bankruptcy of the issuer.
ESG Risk. To the extent that the Underlying Index uses criteria related to the ESG characteristics of issuers, this may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to a Fund and, as a result, a Fund may underperform other funds whose underlying index does not use ESG criteria. The Underlying Index’s use of ESG criteria may result in a Fund investing in, or allocating greater weight to, securities or market sectors that underperform the market as a whole or underperform other funds that use ESG criteria. In addition, the use of representative sampling may result in divergence of the Funds' overall ESG characteristics or ESG risk from those of the Underlying Index.
The Index Provider evaluates securities for inclusion and/or weighting in the Underlying Index based on ESG criteria and data provided by the Index Provider or third parties. The Index Provider’s evaluation of securities’ ESG characteristics depends on these criteria and data, which may vary by index provider, and no assurance can be given that they will be complete, accurate or current. In addition, the Index Provider may evaluate security-level ESG data (including ratings) and, if applicable, ESG objectives or constraints that are relevant to the Underlying Index only at index reviews or rebalances. Securities included in the Underlying Index may cease to meet the relevant ESG criteria but may nevertheless remain in the Underlying Index and a Fund until the next review or rebalance by the Index Provider. As a result, certain securities in the Underlying Index, or the Underlying Index as a whole, may not meet the relevant ESG objectives or constraints at all times. If the ESG assessment of a security in the Underlying Index or a Fund changes, neither the Fund nor BFA accepts any liability in relation to such change. BFA does not monitor securities in the Underlying Index with respect to ESG objectives or constraints applied by the Index Provider and is not responsible for changes to the ESG assessment of a security in the Underlying Index between rebalances. In addition, BFA does not assess the validity of the Index Provider’s evaluation of the ESG characteristics of securities or the criteria and data used in such evaluation.
The impacts of risks related to ESG investing are likely to change over time, and new ESG risks may be identified as further data and information regarding ESG factors and impacts become available. In addition, methodologies for ESG investing continue to develop, and the ESG methodology applied by the Index Provider may change over time.
European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the eurozone) of the European Union (the EU) requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the U.K.) economy may be affected by global economic, industrial
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and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.
Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU (Brexit) on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.
The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including, for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of a Fund's investments.
Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.
Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital and liquid assets they must maintain and, potentially, their size. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by financial companies may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.
Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower’s or counterparty’s inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades, adverse public perception and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact a Fund. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law.
Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Underlying Funds invest are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of a Fund.
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Income Risk. A Fund’s income may decline when interest rates fall.  This decline can occur because a Fund or an Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in a Fund's portfolio mature or are called, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted, or a Fund or an Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.  The Index Provider’s substitution of bonds in the Underlying Index may occur, for example, when the time to maturity for the bond no longer matches the Underlying Index’s stated maturity guidelines.
Indexing Investment Risk. The Fundsand the Underlying Funds are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to their Underlying Indexes. Each Fund and each Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, their respective underlying index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Index-Related Risk. The Funds seek to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Indexes, as published by their respective index providers. There is no assurance that the index providers or any agents that act on their behalf will compile the Underlying Indexes accurately, or that the Underlying Indexes will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the index providers do provide descriptions of what the Underlying Indexes are designed to achieve, neither the index providers nor their agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Indexes or their related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Indexes will be in line with the index providers’ described index methodology. BFA’s mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Funds consistently with the Underlying Indexes provided by the index providers to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the index providers’ or agents’ errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Indexes may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index providers and corrected for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indexes are less commonly used as benchmarks. Therefore, gains, losses or costs associated with index provider errors will generally be borne by the Funds and their shareholders. For example, during a period where a Fund’s Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Funds tracking such published Underlying Index would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index’s other constituents. As such, errors may result in a negative or positive performance impact to the Funds and their shareholders. Shareholders should understand that any gains from index provider errors will be kept by the Funds and their shareholders and any losses resulting from index provider errors will be borne by the Funds and their shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.
Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Indexes. This could cause the Underlying Indexes to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Indexes that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Indexes to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the index providers may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Indexes due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. Where the Underlying Index of a Fund is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to correlate it to its Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Funds and their shareholders. Unscheduled rebalances to the Underlying Indexes may also expose the Funds to tracking error risk, which is the risk that its returns may not track exactly those of the Underlying Indexes. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the index providers to the Underlying Indexes may increase the costs and market exposure risk of the Funds.
Similar risks exist for the Underlying Funds in tracking their benchmarks, which may result in the Funds' performance deviating from the return of the Underlying Index.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.
An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.
An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact a Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.
Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Funds or an Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fundsor an Underlying Fund and their investments and will impact the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets.Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums
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or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund’s service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.
Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect a Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's investments.
An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect a Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Funds' NAV.
Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Information Technology Sector Risk. Information technology companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on their profit margins. Like other technology companies, information technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of information technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the information technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Companies in the information technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Companies in the application software industry, in particular, may also be negatively affected by the decline or fluctuation of subscription renewal rates for their products and services, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Companies in the systems software industry may be adversely affected by, among other things, actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in their products and services, which may result in individual or class action lawsuits, state or federal enforcement actions and other remediation costs.
Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Funds or an Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Funds or an Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Funds' or an Underlying Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of each Fund or an Underlying Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Funds or an Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed-income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.
The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world’s major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, a Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from a Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Funds or an Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Funds or an Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or tapering, accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments.
Investment in Underlying Funds Risk. Each Fund invests substantially all of its assets inthe Underlying Funds, so each Fund’s investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Funds. Each Fund may also invest in other funds, including money market funds. Each Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Funds and other securities in which each Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in a Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Funds. For example, in addition to the expenses of a Fund, a Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Funds, although some of such fees will be offset by the fee waiver by BFA.
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One Underlying Fund may buy the same securities that another Underlying Fund sells. Also, an investor in a Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Funds, as well as taxable gains from transactions in shares of the Underlying Funds held by the Fund.
As the Underlying Funds, or a Fund's allocations among the Underlying Funds, change from time to time, or to the extent that the total annual fund operating expenses of the Underlying Funds change, the weighted average operating expenses borne by a Fund may increase or decrease.
Issuer Risk. The performance of a Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which a Fund or an Underlying Fund has exposure. A Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or an Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Issuers may, in times of distress or at their own discretion, decide to reduce or eliminate dividends, which may also cause their stock prices to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations. 
Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, each Fund will not fully replicate its Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in its Underlying Index. As a result, a Fund is subject to the risk that BFA’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Market Risk. Each Fundand the Underlying Funds could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. The value of a financial instrument or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the particular instrument or asset, or factors that affect one or more issuers, counterparties, exchanges, countries, regions, markets, industries, sectors or asset classes, as applicable. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, public health issues, recessions, the prospect or occurrence of a sovereign default or other financial crisis, or other events could have a significant impact on the Funds, the Underlying Funds and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to a Fund’sor Underlying Fund's NAV. Changes in market and economic conditions generally do not have the same impact on all types of instruments and assets.
Market Trading Risk.
Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Funds and the Underlying Funds are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.
Risk of Secondary Listings. The Funds' shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Funds' primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that a Fund’s shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that a Fund’s shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Funds' shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of a Fundor an Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Funds do not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Funds or the Underlying Funds accept purchase and redemption orders. If a Fund purchases shares of an Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to their NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to their NAV, the Fund may incur losses.
Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to circuit breaker rules on the stock exchange or market.
Shares of each Fund or an Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on a Fund or an Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or an Underlying Fund.
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Shares of each Fund and the Underlying Funds May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of a Fund and an Underlying Fund each trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund’s and the Underlying Fund's most recent respective NAV. The NAV of each Fund and each Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of such Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of each of the Funds' and Underlying Funds' shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hoursbased on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of a Fund’s shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUNDS' SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of a Fund or the Underlying Funds, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that a Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of a Fund or an Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to a Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.
Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of a Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the spread; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the bid price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the ask price).The spread, which varies over time for shares of a Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.
Model Risk. Neither the Funds nor BFA can offer any assurance that the allocation model used to calculate the Underlying Indexes will achieve its intended results or maximize returns or minimize risks, nor can the Funds or BFA offer assurance that a particular allocation will be the appropriate allocation in all circumstances for every investor seeking a particular risk profile or time horizon.
National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that the underlying securities or other instruments held by a Fundor an Underlying Fund trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., the Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's quote from the closed foreign market).The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be greater where a large portion of the Fund’s underlying securities or other instruments trade on that closed foreign market or when the foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to a Fund’sor an Underlying Fund's NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fundor an Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security’s principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer’s local currency against the U.S. dollar.
Non-U.S. Securities Risk. Investments in the securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to the risks of investing in the markets where such issuers are located, including heightened risks of inflation, nationalization and market fluctuations caused by economic and political developments. The Underlying Funds that invest in non-U.S. securities may be subject to increased risk of loss caused by any of the factors listed below:
Government intervention in issuers' operations or structure;
A lack of market liquidity and market efficiency;
Greater securities price volatility;
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Exchange rate fluctuations and exchange controls;
Less availability of public information about issuers;
Limitations on foreign ownership of securities;
Imposition of withholding or other taxes;
Imposition of restrictions on the expatriation of the funds or other assets of an Underlying Fund;
Higher transaction and custody costs and delays in settlement procedures;
Difficulties in enforcing contractual obligations;
Lower levels of regulation of the securities markets;
Weaker accounting, disclosure and reporting requirements and the risk of being delisted from U.S. exchanges; and
Legal principles relating to corporate governance, directors’ fiduciary duties and liabilities and stockholders’ rights in markets in which the Underlying Funds may invest may differ from or may not be as extensive or protective as those that apply in the U.S.
Withholding Tax Reclaims Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may file claims to recover withholding tax on dividend and interest income (if any) received from issuers in certain countries where such withholding tax reclaim is possible. Whether or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund will receive a withholding tax refund in the future is within the control of the tax authorities in such countries. Where the Fund or the Underlying Fund expects to recover withholding tax based on a continuous assessment of probability of recovery, the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund generally includes accruals for such tax refunds. The Fund continues to evaluate tax developments for potential impact to the probability of recovery. If the likelihood of receiving refunds materially decreases, for example due to a change in tax regulation or approach, accruals in the Fund’s or the Underlying Fund's NAV for such refunds may need to be written down partially or in full, which will adversely affect that Fund’s or the Underlying Fund's NAV. Investors in the Fund or the Underlying Fund at the time an accrual is written down will bear the impact of any resulting reduction in NAV regardless of whether they were investors during the accrual period.  Conversely, if a Fund or the Underlying Fund receives a tax refund that has not been previously accrued, investors in the Fund or the Underlying Fund at the time the claim is successful will benefit from any resulting increase in the Fund’s NAV. Investors who sold their shares prior to such time will not benefit from such NAV or the Underlying Fund's increase.
Operational Risk. The Fundsand the Underlying Funds are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Funds' or an Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Funds, the Underlying Funds and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security’s maturity, which may cause a Fundor an Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.
Reinvestment Risk. A Fund or an Underlying Fund may invest a portion of its assets in short-term fixed-income instruments and as a result, may be adversely affected when interest rates fall because they may have to invest in lower yielding bondsas bonds mature. This may cause a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's income to decline, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. This risk is typically greater with respect to short-term bond funds and lower for long-term bond funds.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The economies of many countries or regions in which certain of the Underlying Funds invest are highly dependent on trading with certain key trading partners. Reduction in spending on products and services by these key trading partners, institution of tariffs or other trade barriers or a slowdown in the economies of key trading partners may adversely affect the performance of any company in which the Underlying Funds invest and have a material adverse effect on the Underlying Funds' performance.
Risk of Investing in China. Investments in Chinese securities, including certain Hong Kong-listed and U.S.-listed securities, subject certain Underlying Funds to risks specific to China. The Chinese economy is subject to a considerable degree of economic, political and social instability.
Political and Social Risk. The Chinese government is authoritarian and has periodically used force to suppress civil dissent. Disparities of wealth and the pace of economic liberalization may lead to social turmoil, violence and labor unrest. In addition, China continues to experience disagreements related to integration with Hong Kong and religious and nationalist disputes in Tibet and Xinjiang. There is also a greater risk in China than in many other countries of currency fluctuations, currency non-convertibility, interest rate fluctuations and higher rates of inflation as a result of internal social unrest or conflicts with other countries. Unanticipated political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. China's growing income inequality, rapidly aging population and significant environmental issues also are factors that may affect the Chinese economy.
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Government Control and Regulations. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. However, government control over certain sectors or enterprises and significant regulation of investment and industry is still pervasive, including restrictions on investment in companies or industries deemed to be sensitive to particular national interests, trading of securities of Chinese issuers, foreign ownership of Chinese corporations and/or the repatriation of assets by foreign investors. Limitations or restrictions on foreign ownership of securities may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of an Underlying Fund and could lead to higher tracking error. Chinese government intervention in the market may have a negative impact on market sentiment, which may in turn affect the performance of the Chinese economy and the Fund’s investments. Chinese markets generally continue to experience inefficiency, volatility and pricing anomalies that may be connected to governmental influence, lack of publicly available information, and political and social instability. Chinese companies, such as those in the financial services or technology sectors, and potentially other sectors are also subject to the risk that Chinese authorities can intervene in their operations and structure, which may negatively affect the value of a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments.
Economic Risk. The Chinese economy may be adversely affected by, among other things, a deterioration in global demand for Chinese exports or a contraction in spending on domestic goods by Chinese consumers. In addition, China may experience substantial rates of inflation, significant indebtedness or economic recessions, which would have a negative effect on its economy and securities market. Delays in enterprise restructuring, slow development of well-functioning financial markets and widespread corruption have also hindered the performance of the Chinese economy. China continues to receive substantial pressure from trading partners to liberalize official currency exchange rates. Reduction in spending on Chinese products and services, supply chain diversification, institution of additional tariffs, sanctions or other trade barriers (including as a result of heightened trade tensions between China and the U.S. or in response to actual or alleged Chinese cyber activity) or a downturn in any of the economies of China’s key trading partners may have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy and companies in which the Fund invests. Certain Chinese companies (which may change from time to time) are directly or indirectly subject to economic or trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. or other governments due to national security, human rights or other concerns of such government. For example, certain foreign technology companies are subject to U.S. export controls as those companies are believed to pose a risk to U.S. interests. The U.S. also bans imports of goods produced in certain regions of China or by certain Chinese companies due to concerns about forced labor. Such restrictions may have unanticipated and adverse effects on the Chinese economy and companies. Any action that targets Chinese financial markets or securities exchanges could interfere with orderly trading, delay settlement or cause market disruptions. The Underlying Index may include companies that are subject to economic or trade restrictions (but not investment restrictions) imposed by the U.S. or other governments. So long as these restrictions do not include restrictions on investments, the Fund is generally expected to invest in such companies, consistent with its objective to track the performance of the Underlying Index.
Expropriation Risk. The Chinese government maintains a major role in economic policymaking, and investing in China involves risk of loss due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested.
Security Risk.  China has strained international relations with Taiwan, Japan, India, Russia and other neighbors due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. China has a complex territorial dispute regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan and has pledged to take control of Taiwan, including by force if necessary. The Chinese military has conducted military drills around Taiwan in connection with China’s claim to Taiwan. Taiwan-based companies and individuals are significant investors in China. These tensions between Taiwan and China may adversely affect the Chinese economy.  Additionally, China is alleged to have participated in state-sponsored cyberattacks against foreign companies and foreign governments. Actual and threatened responses to such activity and strained international relations, including purchasing restrictions, sanctions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Chinese government or Chinese companies, may impact China’s economy and Chinese issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Relations between China's Han ethnic majority and other ethnic groups in China, including Tibetans and Uighurs, are also strained and have been marked by protests and violence. These situations may cause uncertainty in the Chinese market and may adversely affect the Chinese economy. In addition, conflict on the Korean Peninsula could adversely affect the Chinese economy. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments.
Chinese Equity Markets. The issuance of B-shares and H-shares by Chinese companies and the ability to obtain a back-door listing through Red-Chips or P-Chips is still regarded by the Chinese authorities as an experiment in economic reform. Back-door listing is a means by which a mainland Chinese company issues Red-Chips or P-Chips to obtain quick access to international listing and international capital. These share mechanisms are  subject to the political and economic policies in China. The iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF may also invest in Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges, such as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) or variable interest entities (VIEs), which are subject to the investment risks of an associated China-based operating company. Instead of directly owning the equity securities of a Chinese company, a VIE enters into service contracts and other contracts with the Chinese company, which provide the VIE with exposure to the company. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese operating company's performance and the enforceability of the VIE's contractual arrangements with the Chinese company.
Hong Kong Political Risk. Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997 as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the principle of one country, two systems. Although China is obligated to maintain the current
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capitalist economic and social system of Hong Kong through June 30, 2047, the continuation of economic and social freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong is dependent on the government of China. Since 1997, there have been tensions between the Chinese government and many people in Hong Kong who perceive China as tightening control over Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous liberal political, economic, legal and social framework. Recent protests and unrest have increased tensions even further.  Due to the interconnected nature of the Hong Kong and Chinese economies, this instability in Hong Kong may cause uncertainty in the Hong Kong and Chinese markets. In addition, the Hong Kong dollar trades at a fixed exchange rate in relation to (or is pegged to) the U.S. dollar, which has contributed to the growth and stability of the Hong Kong economy. However, it is uncertain how long the currency peg will continue or what effect the establishment of an alternative exchange rate system would have on the Hong Kong economy. Because the Fund's NAV is denominated in U.S. dollars, the establishment of an alternative exchange rate system could result in a decline in the Fund's NAV.
Limited Information and Legal Remedies. Chinese companies, including Chinese companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges, are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements, accounting standards or auditor oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities in which the Fundsor the Underlying Funds invest may be less reliable or complete. Chinese companies with securities listed on U.S. exchanges may be delisted if they do not meet U.S. accounting standards and auditor oversight requirements, which would significantly decrease the liquidity and value of the securities. There may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against Chinese companies, and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Funds are not actively managed and do not select investments based on investor protection considerations.
Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund or an Underlying Fund to regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (e.g., the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fundor an Underlying Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.
Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, in addition to those described underRisk of Investing in Emerging Markets and Non-U.S. Securities Risk, that are not typically associated with investing in U.S. securities, including:
The risk of delays in settling portfolio transactions and the risk of loss arising out of the system of share registration and custody used in Russia;
Risks in connection with the maintenance of an Underlying Fund’s portfolio securities and cash with foreign sub-custodians and securities depositories, including the risk that appropriate sub-custody arrangements will not be available to an Underlying Fund;
The risk that an Underlying Fund’s ownership rights in portfolio securities could be lost through fraud or negligence because ownership in shares of Russian companies is recorded by the companies themselves and by registrars, rather than by a central registration system;
The risk that an Underlying Fund may not be able to pursue claims on behalf of its shareholders because of the system of share registration and custody, and because Russian banking institutions and registrars are not guaranteed by the Russian government; and
The risk that various responses by other nation-states to alleged Russian cyber activity will impact Russia’s economy and Russian issuers of securities in which an Underlying Fund invests.
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia’s economy, Russian issuers of securities in which the Funds or Underlying Funds invest, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.  
Russia Sanctions. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries (collectively, the Sanctioning Bodies) have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals, including politicians, and Russian corporate and banking entities, including banning Russia from global payments systems that facilitate cross-border payments. The Sanctioning Bodies, or others, could also institute broader sanctions on Russia. These sanctions, or even the threat of further sanctions, may result in the decline of the value and liquidity of Russian securities, a weakening of the ruble or other adverse consequences to the Russian economy. These sanctions could also result in the immediate freeze of
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Russian securities and/or funds invested in prohibited assets, impairing the ability of a Fund or Underlying Fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities and/or assets.
The sanctions against certain Russian issuers include prohibitions on transacting in or dealing in issuances of debt or equity of such issuers. Compliance with each of these sanctions has and may continue to impair the ability of an Underlying Fund to buy, sell, hold, receive or deliver the affected securities or other securities of such issuers. If it becomes impracticable or unlawful for an Underlying Fund to hold securities subject to, or otherwise affected by, sanctions (collectively, affected securities), or if deemed appropriate by BFA, an Underlying Fund may prohibit in-kind deposits of the affected securities in connection with creation transactions and instead require a cash deposit, which may also increase an Underlying Fund's transaction costs. An Underlying Fund may also be legally required to freeze assets in a blocked account.
Sanctions have resulted in Russia taking counter measures or retaliatory actions, which has impaired the value and liquidity of Russian securities.  These retaliatory measures include the immediate freeze of Russian assets held by an Underlying Fund. Due to the freeze of any Underlying Fund assets, including depositary receipts, an Underlying Fund may need to liquidate non-restricted assets in order to satisfy any Fund redemption orders. The liquidation of Underlying Fund assets during this time may also result in an Underlying Fund receiving substantially lower prices for its securities. Russia may implement additional retaliatory measures, which may further impair the value and liquidity of Russian securities and the ability of an Underlying Fund to receive dividend payments. Recently, Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (e.g., dividends), and prohibits Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from unfriendly states as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund may be unable to receive them.
These sanctions, the decision by Russia to suspend trading on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and prohibit non-resident investors from executing security sales, and other events have led to changes in certain of the Underlying Indexes of the Underlying Funds. The Underlying Fund’s Index Providers have removed Russian securities where present in an Underlying Index of an Underlying Fund. To the extent that an Underlying Fund rebalances its portfolio and trades in non-Russian securities to seek to track the investment results of its Underlying Index, this may result in transaction costs and increased tracking error. The Underlying Funds are currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in their portfolios, while an Underlying Fund's Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. For Underlying Funds with Russian securities, this disparity will also lead to increased tracking error. The inability of the Underlying Fund to trade in Russian securities may adversely affect the Underlying Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Underlying Fund’s ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.
Also, if an affected security is included in an Underlying Fund's Underlying Index, the Underlying Fund may, where practicable, seek to eliminate its holdings of the affected security by employing or augmenting its representative sampling strategy to seek to track the investment results of its Underlying Index. The use of (or increased use of) a representative sampling strategy may increase the Underlying Fund’s tracking error risk. If the affected securities constitute a significant percentage of an Underlying Fund's Underlying Index, the Underlying Fund may not be able to effectively implement a representative sampling strategy, which may result in significant tracking error between the Underlying Fund’s performance and the performance of its Underlying Index.
Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as a Fundand Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. In addition, the Saudi Arabian government places investment limitations on the ownership of Saudi Arabian issuers by foreign investors, including a limitation on a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's ownership of any single issuer listed on the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange, which may prevent a Fund and Underlying Fund from investing in accordance with its strategy and contribute to tracking error against the Underlying Index. Saudi Arabia is highly reliant on income from the sale of petroleum and trade with other countries involved in the sale of petroleum, and its economy is therefore vulnerable to changes in foreign currency values and the market for petroleum. As global demand for petroleum fluctuates, Saudi Arabia may be significantly impacted. Like most Middle Eastern governments, the government of Saudi Arabia exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. Although liberalization in the wider economy is underway, in many areas it has lagged significantly: restrictions on foreign ownership persist, and the government has an ownership stake in many key industries. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Saudi Arabia is governed by an absolute monarchy. Saudi Arabia has historically experienced strained relations with economic partners worldwide, including other countries in the Middle East, due to geopolitical events. Governmental actions in the future could have a significant effect on economic conditions in Saudi Arabia, which could affect private sector companies and a Fund (or an Underlying Fund), as well as the value of securities in a Fund’sor Underlying Fund's portfolio. Any economic sanctions on Saudi Arabian individuals or Saudi Arabian corporate entities, or even the threat of sanctions, may result in the decline of the value and liquidity of Saudi Arabian securities, a weakening of the Saudi riyal or other adverse consequences to the Saudi Arabian economy. In addition, Saudi Arabia’s economy relies heavily on cheap, foreign labor, and changes in the availability of this labor supply could have an adverse effect on the economy.
Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of a Fund’sor Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory
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taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. Although the political situation in Saudi Arabia is largely stable, Saudi Arabia has historically experienced political instability, and there remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia. Political instability in the larger Middle East region has caused significant disruptions to many industries. Continued political and social unrest in these areas may negatively affect the value of securities in a Fund’sor Underlying Fund's portfolio.
Saudi Arabia Broker Risk.  There are a number of different ways of conducting transactions in equity securities in the Saudi Arabian market.  A Fund (or an Underlying Fund) generally expects to conduct its transactions in a manner in which a Fund (or an Underlying Fund) would not be limited by Saudi Arabian regulations to a single broker. However, there may be a limited number of brokers who can provide services to a Fund, which may have an adverse impact on the prices, quantity or timing of Fund transactions.  The limited number of brokers may impact a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s ability to achieve best execution on securities transactions.  In addition, the limited number of brokers available to a Fund (or an Underlying Fund) may make a Fund (or an Underlying Fund) more susceptible to credit loss or trading disruptions in the event of a default or business disruption by one or more of the available brokers.  Should a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s ability to use one or more brokers be affected for any reason, this could disrupt the operations of a Fund and affect the ability of a Fund to track its Underlying Index and/or cause a Fund’s shares to trade at a premium or discount to NAV.  A Fund may also incur losses due to the acts or omissions of its brokers in the execution or settlement of any transaction or in the transfer of any funds or securities.
Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth. Circumstances could arise that could prevent the timely payment of interest or principal on U.S. government debt, such as reaching the legislative debt ceiling. Such non-payment would result in substantial negative consequences for the U.S. economy and the global financial system.
If U.S. relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which a Fundor an Underlying Fund invests.
Securities Lending Risk. The Funds or an Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fundsor an Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. A Fundor an Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for a Fundor an Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. (BTC), the securities lending agentfor the Funds and the Underlying Funds, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the securities lending programfor the Funds and the Underlying Funds.
Small Fund Risk. When a Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, a Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If a Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. Any resulting liquidation of a Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Tax Risk. Because the Funds are expected to invest in the Underlying Funds, a Fund’s realized losses on sales of shares of an Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as wash sales. Distributions of short-term capital gains by an Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by a Fund and would not be offset by the Fund’s capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of an Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.
Tracking Error Risk. A Fundor each of its Underlying Funds may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of a fund’s performance from that of its underlying index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in a fund’s portfolio and those included in a Fund's Underlying Index or an Underlying Fund's underlying index, pricing differences(including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by a Fundor its Underlying Funds, a Fund’sor its Underlying Funds' holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of dividends or interest received by a Fund or distributions paid to a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s shareholders, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or an Underlying Fund's underlying index or the costs to a Fundor an Underlying Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during
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times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because a fund incurs fees and expenses, while such a Fund's underlying index does not.
U.S. Economic Risk. The U.S. is a significant, and in some cases the most significant, trading partner of, or foreign investor in, certain countries in which an Underlying Fund invests. As a result, economic conditions of such countries may be particularly affected by changes in the U.S. economy. A decrease in U.S. imports or exports, new trade and financial regulations or tariffs, changes in the U.S. dollar exchange rate or an economic slowdown in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the economic conditions of such countries and, as a result, securities to which an Underlying Fund has exposure. Circumstances could arise that could prevent the timely payment of interest or principal on U.S. government debt, such as reaching the legislative debt ceiling. Such non-payment would result in substantial negative consequences for the U.S. economy and the global financial system. 
U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a government may cause the value of a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.
A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of a Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, circumstances could arise that could prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, such as reaching the legislative debt ceiling. Such non-payment would result in losses to a Fund and substantial negative consequences for the U.S. economy and the global financial system.
Valuation Risk. The price a Fund or an Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a securityor other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by its underlying index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when a Fund or an Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when the shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’sor the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's NAV and the prices used by its underlying index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's performance and the performance of its underlying index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem sharesof a Fund or an Underlying Fund on days when the Fundor the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
A Further Discussion of Other Risks
Each Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by a Fund and an Underlying Fund may call or repay the security before its stated maturity, and a Fund and an Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in a Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Funds from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the
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Funds from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Funds.
Commodity Risk. The energy, materials, and agriculture sectors account for a large portion of the exports of certain countries in which an Underlying Fund invests. Any changes in these sectors or fluctuations in the commodity markets could have an adverse impact on a country's economy. Commodity prices may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors, including, where applicable, high volatility, changes in supply and demand relationships, weather, agriculture, trade, pestilence, political instability, war, catastrophic events, changes in interest rates and monetary and other governmental policies, action and inaction, including price changes due to trade relations. Securities of companies held by an Underlying Fund that are dependent on a single commodity, or are concentrated in a single commodity sector, may typically exhibit even higher volatility attributable to commodity prices.
Communication Services Sector Risk. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.
The communication services sector of a country’s economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.
Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.
Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.
Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, interest rates, exchange rates, supply chains, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and consumer preferences. Companies in the consumer discretionary sector depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.
Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.
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Custody Risk. Custody risk refers to the risks inherent in the process of clearing and settling trades, as well as the holding of securities by local banks, agents and depositories. Low trading volumes and volatile prices in less developed markets may make trades harder to complete and settle, and governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that may not be subject to independent evaluation. Local agents are held only to the standards of care of their local markets. In general, the less developed a country’s securities markets are, the higher the degree of custody risk.
Dividend-Paying Stock Risk. Investing in dividend-paying stocks involves the risk that such stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform the broader market. Companies that issue dividend-paying stocks are not required to pay or continue paying dividends on such stocks. It is possible that issuers of the stocks held by a Fund or an Underlying Fund will not declare dividends in the future or will reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends (including reducing or eliminating anticipated accelerations or increases in the payment of dividends) in the future.
Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of a Fund’s or an Underlying Fund's investments.
Healthcare Sector Risk. The profitability of companies in the healthcare sector may be adversely affected by the following factors, among others: extensive government regulations, restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, changes in the demand for medical products and services, a limited number of products, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. Many healthcare companies are heavily dependent on patent protection. The expiration of a company’s patents may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Many healthcare companies are subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims. Healthcare companies are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allows for the negotiation of prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare recipients, which may result in reduced prescription prices. This could reduce some healthcare companies’ overall profitability. Many new products in the healthcare sector may be subject to regulatory approvals. The process of obtaining such approvals may be long and costly, and such efforts ultimately may be unsuccessful. Companies in the healthcare sector may be thinly capitalized and may be susceptible to product obsolescence. In addition, a number of legislative proposals concerning healthcare have been considered by the U.S. Congress in recent years. It is unclear what proposals will ultimately be enacted, if any, and what effect they may have on companies in the healthcare sector.
Illiquid Investments Risk. A Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, a Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that a Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by a Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by a Fund, and any security or instrument held by a Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to a Fund’s liquidity risk management program. To the extent a Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of a Fund because a Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that a Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, a Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks