Terminology such as “ESG integrated”, “sustainable” or “impact”, among other terms, is not uniformly defined across the industry. Investment managers may understand and apply ESG factors in different ways, and that the role those factors play in investment decisions also varies. Therefore, we recommend investors understand the role of ESG factors in a strategy to ensure that approach is consistent with their investment objectives. Like any aspect of investment analysis, there is no guarantee that an investment strategy that considers ESG factors will result in performance better than or equal to products that do not consider such factors. Investing and making buy and sell decisions that emphasize ESG factors carries the risk that, under certain market conditions, the fund or strategy may underperform those that do not incorporate such factors explicitly into the decision-making process. The application of ESG criteria may affect exposure to certain sectors or securities and may impact relative investment performance depending on whether such sectors or securities are generally in or out of favor in the market.

Federated Securities Corp.

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