Putnam VT Sustainable Future Fund
The fund's portfolio
9/30/22 (Unaudited)


COMMON STOCKS (97.6%)(a)
        Shares Value
Banks (0.9%)
First Republic Bank/CA 1,852 $241,779
241,779
Biotechnology (5.4%)
Compass Pathways PLC ADR (United Kingdom)(NON) 11,200 120,176
Exact Sciences Corp.(NON) 6,205 201,600
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NON) 930 640,649
Seagen, Inc.(NON) 1,690 231,243
Twist Bioscience Corp.(NON) 4,950 174,438
1,368,106
Building products (1.8%)
Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. 3,640 452,707
452,707
Capital markets (2.6%)
MSCI, Inc. 1,590 670,646
670,646
Chemicals (5.8%)
Ecolab, Inc. 2,025 292,451
Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc.(NON) 42,063 131,237
Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc.(NON) 11,740 36,629
Ingevity Corp.(NON) 4,830 292,843
Koninklijke DSM NV (Netherlands) 3,282 372,244
Novozymes A/S Class B (Denmark) 6,940 346,145
1,471,549
Commercial services and supplies (4.5%)
Casella Waste Systems, Inc. Class A(NON) 6,710 512,577
Cintas Corp. 1,640 636,632
1,149,209
Construction and engineering (1.3%)
Quanta Services, Inc. 2,680 341,405
341,405
Containers and packaging (0.8%)
Ball Corp. 4,015 194,005
194,005
Diversified consumer services (0.9%)
Chegg, Inc.(NON) 10,415 219,444
219,444
Diversified financial services (1.3%)
Eurazeo SE (France) 6,081 317,514
317,514
Diversified telecommunication services (1.4%)
Liberty Global PLC Class C (United Kingdom)(NON) 21,920 361,680
361,680
Electric utilities (2.4%)
NextEra Energy, Inc. 7,665 601,013
601,013
Electrical equipment (2.8%)
Fluence Energy, Inc.(NON) 15,577 227,268
Sunrun, Inc.(NON) 17,078 471,182
698,450
Electronic equipment, instruments, and components (3.0%)
Trimble Inc.(NON) 7,785 422,492
Zebra Technologies Corp. Class A(NON) 1,325 347,163
769,655
Food and staples retailing (1.5%)
Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.(NON) 13,710 380,453
380,453
Food products (2.6%)
McCormick & Co., Inc. (non-voting shares) 9,135 651,051
651,051
Health-care equipment and supplies (6.4%)
Cooper Cos., Inc. (The) 1,285 339,112
DexCom, Inc.(NON) 6,820 549,283
Edwards Lifesciences Corp.(NON) 6,120 505,696
Mesa Laboratories, Inc. 1,564 220,258
1,614,349
Health-care providers and services (2.3%)
HealthEquity, Inc.(NON) 8,500 570,945
570,945
Health-care technology (1.8%)
Veeva Systems, Inc. Class A(NON) 2,810 463,313
463,313
Hotels, restaurants, and leisure (3.5%)
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.(NON) 595 894,142
894,142
Internet and direct marketing retail (1.0%)
Etsy, Inc.(NON) 2,350 235,306
thredUp, Inc. Class A(NON) 13,025 23,966
259,272
IT Services (2.0%)
Gartner, Inc.(NON) 750 207,518
Mastercard, Inc. Class A 1,090 309,931
517,449
Life sciences tools and services (7.5%)
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Class A(NON) 940 392,112
Danaher Corp. 2,969 766,863
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. 1,435 727,818
1,886,793
Machinery (1.0%)
Federal Signal Corp. 7,080 264,226
264,226
Mortgage real estate investment trusts (REITs) (1.6%)
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc.(R) 13,305 398,219
398,219
Pharmaceuticals (1.3%)
Zoetis, Inc. 2,180 323,272
323,272
Professional services (2.6%)
Bureau Veritas SA (France) 14,910 332,973
Planet Labs PBC(NON) 57,860 314,180
647,153
Semiconductors and semiconductor equipment (3.6%)
Applied Materials, Inc. 4,360 357,215
ASML Holding NV (NY Reg Shares) (Netherlands) 705 292,822
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (Israel)(NON) 1,090 252,291
902,328
Software (18.8%)
Adobe, Inc.(NON) 1,636 450,221
Atlassian Corp PLC Class A (Australia)(NON) 1,290 271,661
Bill.com Holdings, Inc.(NON) 2,210 292,538
Ceridian HCM Holding, Inc.(NON) 6,250 349,250
Crowdstrike Holdings, Inc. Class A(NON) 4,615 760,598
Dynatrace, Inc.(NON) 14,236 495,555
Palo Alto Networks, Inc.(NON) 3,350 548,697
Roper Technologies, Inc. 1,200 431,568
ServiceNow, Inc.(NON) 870 328,521
Verra Mobility Corp.(NON) 25,090 385,633
Zscaler, Inc.(NON) 2,700 443,799
4,758,041
Specialty retail (0.5%)
Brilliant Earth Group, Inc. Class A(NON) 21,700 124,341
124,341
Textiles, apparel, and luxury goods (3.0%)
Levi Strauss & Co. Class A 27,070 391,703
Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (Canada)(NON) 1,305 364,826
756,529
Trading companies and distributors (1.7%)
Core & Main, Inc. Class A(NON) 19,100 434,334
434,334
Total common stocks (cost $23,618,952) $24,703,372








SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS (2.1%)(a)
        Shares Value
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund Class P 3.11%(AFF) 539,680 $539,680
Total short-term investments (cost $539,680) $539,680
TOTAL INVESTMENTS
Total investments (cost $24,158,632) $25,243,052








FORWARD CURRENCY CONTRACTS at 9/30/22 (aggregate face value $4,080,824) (Unaudited)
  Counterparty Currency Contract type* Delivery date Value Aggregate face value Unrealized
appreciation/
(depreciation)
Bank of America N.A.
Danish Krone Sell 12/21/22 $154,943 $160,213 $5,270
Euro Sell 12/21/22 397,767 408,204 10,437
Barclays Bank PLC
British Pound Sell 12/21/22 151,023 156,582 5,559
Citibank, N.A.
Israeli Shekel Sell 10/19/22 115,949 123,035 7,086
Goldman Sachs International
Australian Dollar Sell 10/19/22 117,841 123,089 5,248
Israeli Shekel Sell 10/19/22 104,635 106,562 1,927
HSBC Bank USA, National Association
British Pound Sell 12/21/22 309,312 320,684 11,372
Canadian Dollar Sell 10/19/22 292,022 312,039 20,017
Danish Krone Sell 12/21/22 226,937 234,673 7,736
Euro Sell 12/21/22 666,560 684,167 17,607
Israeli Shekel Sell 10/19/22 121,845 124,086 2,241
Swedish Krona Buy 12/21/22 131,530 139,023 (7,493)
JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.
Australian Dollar Sell 10/19/22 48,493 52,149 3,656
Euro Sell 12/21/22 65,966 67,697 1,731
Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC
British Pound Sell 12/21/22 92,447 95,852 3,405
Canadian Dollar Buy 10/19/22 235,847 253,541 (17,694)
Euro Sell 12/21/22 261,201 273,596 12,395
NatWest Markets PLC
Australian Dollar Sell 10/19/22 140,360 154,689 14,329
State Street Bank and Trust Co.
Canadian Dollar Sell 10/19/22 52,338 55,341 3,003
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Euro Buy 12/21/22 79,475 81,138 (1,663)
UBS AG
British Pound Buy 12/21/22 75,009 71,637 3,372
Israeli Shekel Buy 10/19/22 76,953 82,827 (5,874)
Unrealized appreciation 136,391
Unrealized (depreciation) (32,724)
Total $103,667
* The exchange currency for all contracts listed is the United States Dollar.












Key to holding's abbreviations
ADR American Depository Receipts: Represents ownership of foreign securities on deposit with a custodian bank.
Notes to the fund's portfolio
Unless noted otherwise, the notes to the fund's portfolio are for the close of the fund's reporting period, which ran from January 1, 2022 through September 30, 2022 (the reporting period). Within the following notes to the portfolio, references to "Putnam Management" represent Putnam Investment Management, LLC, the fund's manager, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Putnam Investments, LLC, references to "ASC 820" represent Accounting Standards Codification 820 Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures and references to "OTC", if any, represent over-the-counter.
(a) Percentages indicated are based on net assets of $25,323,032.
(NON) This security is non-income-producing.
(AFF) Affiliated company. For investments in Putnam Short Term Investment Fund, the rate quoted in the security description is the annualized 7-day yield of the fund at the close of the reporting period. Transactions during the period with any company which is under common ownership or control were as follows:
Name of affiliate Fair value
as of
12/31/21		 Purchase
cost		 Sale
proceeds		 Investment
income		 Shares outstanding
and fair
value as of
9/30/22
Short-term investments
Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC*# $2,909,090 $7,956,010 $10,865,100 $3,343 $—
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund** 1,205,155 6,627,336 7,292,811 4,537 539,680
Total Short-term investments $4,114,245 $14,583,346 $18,157,911 $7,880 $539,680
* The fund may lend securities, through its agent, to qualified borrowers in order to earn additional income. The loans are collateralized by cash in an amount at least equal to the fair value of the securities loaned. The fair value of securities loaned is determined daily and any additional required collateral is allocated to the fund on the next business day. The remaining maturities of the securities lending transactions are considered overnight and continuous. The risk of borrower default will be borne by the fund’s agent; the fund will bear the risk of loss with respect to the investment of the cash collateral. The fund receives cash collateral, which is invested in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC, a limited liability company managed by an affiliate of Putnam Management. Investments in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC are valued at its closing net asset value each business day. There are no management fees charged to Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC and there were no realized or unrealized gains or losses during the period.
# At the close of the reporting period, the fund did not have any securities on loan.
** Management fees charged to Putnam Short Term Investment Fund have been waived by Putnam Management. There were no realized or unrealized gains or losses during the period.
(R) Real Estate Investment Trust.
Security valuation: Portfolio securities and other investments are valued using policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The Trustees have formed a Pricing Committee to oversee the implementation of these procedures and have delegated responsibility for valuing the fund’s assets in accordance with these procedures to Putnam Management. Putnam Management has established an internal Valuation Committee that is responsible for making fair value determinations, evaluating the effectiveness of the pricing policies of the fund and reporting to the Pricing Committee.
Investments for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the last reported sales price on their principal exchange, or official closing price for certain markets, and are classified as Level 1 securities under ASC 820. If no sales are reported, as in the case of some securities that are traded OTC, a security is valued at its last reported bid price and is generally categorized as a Level 2 security.
Investments in open-end investment companies (excluding exchange-traded funds), if any, which can be classified as Level 1 or Level 2 securities, are valued based on their net asset value. The net asset value of such investment companies equals the total value of their assets less their liabilities and divided by the number of their outstanding shares.
Many securities markets and exchanges outside the U.S. close prior to the scheduled close of the New York Stock Exchange and therefore the closing prices for securities in such markets or on such exchanges may not fully reflect events that occur after such close but before the scheduled close of the New York Stock Exchange. Accordingly, on certain days, the fund will fair value certain foreign equity securities taking into account multiple factors including movements in the U.S. securities markets, currency valuations and comparisons to the valuation of American Depository Receipts, exchange-traded funds and futures contracts. The foreign equity securities, which would generally be classified as Level 1 securities, will be transferred to Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy when they are valued at fair value. The number of days on which fair value prices will be used will depend on market activity and it is possible that fair value prices will be used by the fund to a significant extent. At the close of the reporting period, fair value pricing was used for certain foreign securities in the portfolio. Securities quoted in foreign currencies, if any, are translated into U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate. Short-term securities with remaining maturities of 60 days or less are valued using an independent pricing service approved by the Trustees, and are classified as Level 2 securities.
To the extent a pricing service or dealer is unable to value a security or provides a valuation that Putnam Management does not believe accurately reflects the security's fair value, the security will be valued at fair value by Putnam Management in accordance with policies and procedures approved by the Trustees. Certain investments, including certain restricted and illiquid securities and derivatives, are also valued at fair value following procedures approved by the Trustees. These valuations consider such factors as significant market or specific security events such as interest rate or credit quality changes, various relationships with other securities, discount rates, U.S. Treasury, U.S. swap and credit yields, index levels, convexity exposures, recovery rates, sales and other multiples and resale restrictions. These securities are classified as Level 2 or as Level 3 depending on the priority of the significant inputs.
To assess the continuing appropriateness of fair valuations, the Valuation Committee reviews and affirms the reasonableness of such valuations on a regular basis after considering all relevant information that is reasonably available. Such valuations and procedures are reviewed periodically by the Trustees. The fair value of securities is generally determined as the amount that the fund could reasonably expect to realize from an orderly disposition of such securities over a reasonable period of time. By its nature, a fair value price is a good faith estimate of the value of a security in a current sale and does not reflect an actual market price, which may be different by a material amount.
Forward currency contracts: The fund buys and sells forward currency contracts, which are agreements between two parties to buy and sell currencies at a set price on a future date. These contracts were used to hedge foreign exchange risk.
The U.S. dollar value of forward currency contracts is determined using current forward currency exchange rates supplied by a quotation service. The fair value of the contract will fluctuate with changes in currency exchange rates. The contract is marked to market daily and the change in fair value is recorded as an unrealized gain or loss. The fund records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value of the contract at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed when the contract matures or by delivery of the currency. The fund could be exposed to risk if the value of the currency changes unfavorably, if the counterparties to the contracts are unable to meet the terms of their contracts or if the fund is unable to enter into a closing position.
For the fund's average contract amount on forward currency contracts, see the appropriate table at the end of these footnotes.
Master agreements: The fund is a party to ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.) Master Agreements (Master Agreements) with certain counterparties that govern OTC derivative and foreign exchange contracts entered into from time to time. The Master Agreements may contain provisions regarding, among other things, the parties’ general obligations, representations, agreements, collateral requirements, events of default and early termination. With respect to certain counterparties, in accordance with the terms of the Master Agreements, collateral posted to the fund is held in a segregated account by the fund’s custodian and, with respect to those amounts which can be sold or repledged, is presented in the fund’s portfolio.
Collateral pledged by the fund is segregated by the fund’s custodian and identified in the fund’s portfolio. Collateral can be in the form of cash or debt securities issued by the U.S. Government or related agencies or other securities as agreed to by the fund and the applicable counterparty. Collateral requirements are determined based on the fund’s net position with each counterparty.
Termination events applicable to the fund may occur upon a decline in the fund’s net assets below a specified threshold over a certain period of time. Termination events applicable to counterparties may occur upon a decline in the counterparty’s long-term and short-term credit ratings below a specified level. In each case, upon occurrence, the other party may elect to terminate early and cause settlement of all derivative and foreign exchange contracts outstanding, including the payment of any losses and costs resulting from such early termination, as reasonably determined by the terminating party. Any decision by one or more of the fund’s counterparties to elect early termination could impact the fund’s future derivative activity.
At the close of the reporting period, the fund had a net liability position of $6,059 on open derivative contracts subject to the Master Agreements. There was no collateral posted by the fund at period end for these agreements.








ASC 820 establishes a three-level hierarchy for disclosure of fair value measurements. The valuation hierarchy is based upon the transparency of inputs to the valuation of the fund's investments. The three levels are defined as follows:
Level 1: Valuations based on quoted prices for identical securities in active markets.
Level 2: Valuations based on quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.
Level 3: Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the fair value measurement.
The following is a summary of the inputs used to value the fund's net assets as of the close of the reporting period:
  Valuation inputs
Investments in securities: Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Common stocks*:
Communication services $361,680 $— $—
Consumer discretionary 2,253,728 — —
Consumer staples 1,031,504 — —
Financials 1,310,644 317,514 —
Health care 6,226,778 — —
Industrials 3,654,511 332,973 —
Information technology 6,947,473 — —
Materials 815,928 849,626 —
Utilities 601,013 — —
Total common stocks 23,203,259 1,500,113 —
Short-term investments — 539,680 —
Totals by level $23,203,259 $2,039,793 $—
  Valuation inputs
Other financial instruments: Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Forward currency contracts $— $103,667 $—
Totals by level $— $103,667 $—
* Common stock classifications are presented at the sector level, which may differ from the fund's portfolio presentation.
At the start and close of the reporting period, Level 3 investments in securities represented less than 1% of the fund's net assets and were not considered a significant portion of the fund's portfolio.
The volume of activity for the reporting period for any derivative type that was held at the close of the period is listed below and was based on an average of the holdings of that derivative at the end of each fiscal quarter in the reporting period:
Forward currency contracts (contract amount) $3,200,000
For additional information regarding the fund please see the fund's most recent annual or semiannual shareholder report filed on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site, www.sec.gov, or visit Putnam's Individual Investor Web site at www.putnaminvestments.com