Climate & GHG disclosures: disclosure examples

Our business and the business of our suppliers and customers may also be subject to current and future climate-related regulations, contract terms and lawsuits. Increased regulations on carbon taxes, greenhouse gas emissions, fuel or energy taxes will likely result in greater costs, such as through carbon pricing impact on utilities or through requiring greater renewable energy purchases than otherwise planned.

Our supply chain manufacturing suppliers may incur increased costs of doing business should they be affected by new climate-related expectations such as those affecting abatement equipment, renewable energy, and/or alter production processes and materials selections. The additional compliance costs incurred by our suppliers may be passed on to us and result in greater indirect costs to us. These costs and restrictions could materially harm our business and results of operations by increasing our expenses, damaging our reputation for actual or perceived non-compliance, or requiring us to alter our operations and products. The long-term effects of climate change on the global economy and the technology industry are unclear but could be severe. Additionally, we are or expect to be subject to various new or proposed climate-related disclosure requirements and we expect to incur costs and resources in order to comply. Failure to comply with such reporting obligations may result in enforcement actions, litigation or reputational harm and could have a material adverse effect on us.

Legal and Regulatory Risks

Government actions and regulations such as export regulations, import tariffs, and trade protection measures may limit our ability to export our products to certain customers.

We are subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which restrict the export of certain products and technologies to certain countries, including China, Russia, and Belarus, among others. These restrictions may limit our ability to sell certain products or technologies in these markets or to certain customers.

Managing our sustainable business practices helps us reduce cost, optimize efficiencies, strengthen supply chain resilience and meet stakeholder expectations. We invest in environmental projects and set company-wide ambitions to cut greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water use and waste to landfills. Our products are designed with energy efficiency in mind, to help customers lower their own emissions, energy usage and costs.

Our supply chain practices are designed to drive responsible and sustainable business practices through robust education and engagement initiatives for suppliers, supporting our global manufacturing operations. We collaborate with industry peers to improve transparency around climate and water impacts in the electronics supply chain, and lead efforts on responsible minerals sourcing. These collaborations help establish industry-wide standards, develop auditable processes and deliver training that drives meaningful change.

Our commitment to integrity, accountability and responsible business practices applies to every employee. All employees are expected to uphold the Intel Code of Conduct and Intel's Global Human Rights Principles, which form the foundation of our policies, practices and ethical business culture.

Human Rights Commitment

We are committed to maintaining and improving systems and processes to avoid causing or contributing to adverse impacts on human rights in our operations, products and supply chain. Our integrated approach includes senior management involvement and board-level oversight. We also engage throughout the year with external stakeholders and experts to inform and evolve our policies and oversight processes. While we do not always know nor can we control what products our customers create or the applications end users may develop, we do not support or tolerate our products being used to adversely impact human rights. Where we become aware of a concern that our products are being used by a business partner in connection with abuses of human rights, we intend to evaluate and restrict or cease business with the third party unless and until we have high confidence that our products are not being used to adversely impact human rights.

Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: changing crude oil and natural gas prices and demand for the company’s products, and production curtailments due to market conditions; crude oil production quotas or other actions that might be imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producing countries; technological advancements; changes to government policies in the countries in which the company operates; public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, and any related government policies and actions; disruptions in the company’s global supply chain, including supply chain constraints and escalation of the cost of goods and services; changing economic, regulatory and political environments in the various countries in which the company operates, including Venezuela; general domestic and international economic, market and political conditions, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and the global response to these hostilities; changing refining, marketing and chemicals margins; the company’s ability to realize anticipated cost savings and efficiencies associated with enterprise structural cost reduction initiatives; actions of competitors or regulators; timing of exploration expenses; changes in projected future cash flows; timing of crude oil liftings; uncertainties about the estimated quantities of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas reserves; the competitiveness of alternate-energy sources or product substitutes; pace and scale of the development of large carbon capture and storage and offset markets; the results of operations and financial condition of the company’s suppliers, vendors, partners and equity affiliates; the inability or failure of the company’s joint-venture partners to fund their share of operations and development activities; the potential failure to achieve expected net production from existing and future crude oil and natural gas development projects; potential delays in the development, construction or start-up of planned projects; the potential disruption or interruption of the company’s operations due to war, accidents, political events, civil unrest, severe weather, cyber threats, terrorist acts, or other natural or human causes beyond the company’s control; the potential liability for remedial actions or assessments under existing or future environmental regulations and litigation; significant operational, investment or product changes undertaken or required by existing or future environmental statutes and regulations, including international agreements and national or regional legislation and regulatory measures related to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change; the potential liability resulting from pending or future litigation; the company’s ability to achieve…

In addition, we could be affected by future foreign or domestic laws or regulations imposed in response to concerns over climate change, and we monitor developments in environmental and climate-related laws and regulations and their potential impact to our business and financial condition. Changes in environmental and climate-related laws or regulations, including regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon pricing, energy taxes, product efficiency standards, global chemical regulations, and mandatory disclosure obligations could lead to new or additional investment in product designs and facility upgrades and could increase our operational and environmental compliance expenditures, including increased energy and raw materials costs and costs associated with manufacturing changes.

For further discussion of risks related to environmental and climate matters and other government regulations, see Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Form 10-K.

Other Applicable Regulations. We conduct our businesses through subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. As a result, our businesses and operations are subject to both U.S. and non-U.S. government laws, regulations, and procurement policies and practices, including regulations relating to tariffs, taxes, investment, sanctions, exchange controls, anti-corruption, privacy, and cash repatriation. Our international sales are also subject to varying currency, political, and economic risks.

Cautionary Note Concerning Factors That May Affect Future Results

Additionally, international climate initiatives, such as the United Nations Conference of the Parties summits, continue to shape the global response to climate change. These summits can lead to commitments from numerous countries to meet the objectives of agreements like the Paris Agreement, through adopting country level regulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The implementation of current agreements and regulatory or judicial measures, as well as any future agreements or measures addressing climate change and GHG emissions, may adversely increase our capital and operating expenses, impact the demand for our products, impose taxes on our products or operations, or require us to purchase emission credits or reduce emissions of GHGs from our operations. As a result, we may incur substantial capital expenditures and compliance, operating, maintenance and remediation costs, any of which may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

For more information on legislation or precursors for possible regulation relating to global climate change that affect or could affect our operations and a description of the company's response, see the "Contingencies—Climate Change” and "—Company Response to Climate-Related Risks" sections of Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Broader investor and societal attention to and efforts to address global climate change may limit who can do business with us or our access to financial markets and could subject us to litigation.

Attention to global climate change has also resulted in pressure from and upon stockholders, financial institutions and other financial market participants to potentially limit or discontinue investments, insurance and funding to oil and gas companies. For example, a significant number of financial institutions have pledged to meet the goal of net zero by 2050, as well as setting interim targets for 2030 or earlier. While these targets do not prohibit financial sector stakeholders from doing business with oil and gas companies, stakeholders may self-impose limits. Conversely, we also face pressure from some in the investment community and certain public interest groups to limit the focus on ESG in our decision-making, arguing that ESG considerations do not relate to financial outcomes. As public pressure continues to mount on the financial sector, our costs of capital may increase.

Increased public awareness and concern regarding environmental risks, including global climate change, may result in more international, regional and/or federal requirements or industry standards to reduce or mitigate global warming and other environmental risks. These regulations or standards could mandate more restrictive requirements, such as stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions, than the voluntary commitments that we have made or require such changes on a more accelerated time frame. There continues to be a lack of consistent climate legislation across jurisdictions, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty. Conversely, changes in governmental policy or leadership could lead to the rollback of existing climate regulations, potentially exposing the Company to stranded investments in compliance infrastructure or creating competitive disparities relative to companies that did not make such investments. If environmental laws or regulations or industry standards are either changed or adopted and impose significant operational restrictions and compliance requirements upon the Company or its products, or if anticipated regulations fail to materialize after we have made substantial compliance investments, our business, operations and financial condition could be negatively impacted.

Some regulators and stakeholders are focused on corporate responsibility and sustainability matters, including, but not limited to, greenhouse gas emissions and other climate-related risks, sustainable packaging, water stewardship, and corporate governance and oversight. While we are actively addressing these issues, these initiatives represent our current plans and aspirations that may be refined in the future and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them, especially given the difficulties and expenses of implementation as well as the ever-changing regulatory and technological landscape. For example, disclosures about our sustainability-related initiatives and goals, and progress against those goals, may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. In addition, previously reported data has, and may continue to be, adjusted to reflect improvements in the availability and quality of internal and third-party data, changes in the nature and scope of our operations, and other changes in circumstances. If our climate-related information, processes and disclosures are incomplete or inaccurate, our reputation, business, and growth could be negatively impacted.

Furthermore, the rules, regulations, and standards set forth by various governmental and self-regulatory organizations, such as the SEC, the European Union, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), continue to evolve in scope and complexity and, at times, are inconsistent with one another, which, in turn, makes compliance more uncertain and difficult. For example, the standards used to identify and collect the data required pursuant to the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive are still in development, which could result in increased costs related to complying with the changing reporting obligations and could increase our risk of failing to comply with the directive. These changing rules and regulations, along with constantly evolving stockholder expectations, have resulted in, and may continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and increased management time and attention spent complying with or meeting such expectations and rules.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, some of the states and localities in which we operate and the governments of other countries in which we operate have also enacted or proposed certain climate-related disclosures and may adopt new regulations related to the use of fossil fuels or requiring the use of alternative fuel or renewable energy sources to power energy resources that serve our data centers. Efforts to support and enhance renewable electricity generation may increase our costs of electricity above those that would be incurred through procurement of conventionally generated electricity. Our data centers require and consume significant amounts of power, including electricity generated by the burning of fossil fuels. These laws, regulations and stakeholder requests could limit our ability to develop new facilities or result in substantial compliance, maintenance, repair, retrofit and construction costs, including capital expenditures for environmental control facilities and other new equipment. Changes in regulations that affect electric power providers, such as regulations related to the control of greenhouse gas emissions or other climate change-related matters, could adversely affect the costs of electric power and increase our operating costs, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations or those of our customers. See “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this Annual Report for more information on our data center-related risks.

Health and Safety. In the United States and in other countries where we operate, we are subject to various national, state and local laws regarding employee health and safety, including protection from radio frequency exposure and air quality issues.

Competition

Sustainability is core to our business strategy. We deliver sustainable solutions that help companies around the world achieve their business goals while reducing environmental impacts. We partner with customers around the world to reduce water and energy use as well as greenhouse gas emissions through our high-efficiency solutions. By partnering with our customers to help them do more with less through the use of our innovative and differentiated solutions, we aim to help our customers conserve more than 300 billion gallons of water annually by 2030. In 2024, we helped our customers conserve more than 226 billion gallons of water and avoid more than 4.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

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The following description of our business is based upon our reportable segments as reported in our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, which are located in Item 8 of Part II of this Form 10-K. Operating segments that share similar economic characteristics and future prospects, including the nature of the products and production processes, end-use markets, channels of distribution and regulatory environment, have been aggregated into four reportable segments: Global Water, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Pest Elimination, and Global Life Sciences.

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Global Water

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This reportable segment consists of the Light & Heavy, Food & Beverage and Paper operating segments, which provide water treatment and process applications and cleaning and sanitizing solutions, primarily to large industrial customers within the manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, primary metals and mining, power generation, global refining, petrochemical, pulp and paper industries. The underlying operating segments exhibit similar manufacturing processes, distribution methods and economic characteristics. Descriptions of the three operating segments which comprise our Global Water reportable segment follow below.

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Light & Heavy

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Light & Heavy serves customers across industrial and institutional markets. Within Light & Heavy, our markets include food and beverage, manufacturing and transportation, institutional clients, including commercial buildings, hospitals, universities and hotels, and global high technology serving customers, including data centers and microelectronics. We also serve the power, chemicals, primary metals and mining and petroleum refining and fuels industries.

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We have announced, and may from time to time announce, certain initiatives, including goals, targets and other objectives, related to sustainability matters. Our efforts to research, establish, accomplish, and accurately report on these goals, targets and other objectives do not guarantee we will ultimately achieve or maintain them and expose us to numerous operational, reputational, financial, legal and other risks. Our ability to achieve any stated goal, target or objective is subject to numerous factors and conditions, many of which are outside of our control. Examples of such factors include evolving regulatory requirements affecting sustainability standards or disclosures or imposing different requirements, the reliance on other value chain actors to implement the required changes, the pace of changes in technology and the availability of suppliers that can meet our sustainability and other standards. In addition, statements about our sustainability goals, targets and other objectives, and progress against those goals, targets and other objectives, may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. Our selection, interpretation and application of voluntary disclosure frameworks and standards may change from time to time or differ from those of others. Reporting methods for this data may be updated and previously reported data may be adjusted to reflect improvement in availability and quality of third-party data, changing assumptions, changes in the nature and scope of our operations, and other changes in circumstances, which could result in significant revisions to our current goals, reported progress in achieving such goals, or ability to achieve such goals in the future. Further, developing and collecting, measuring and reporting sustainability-related information and metrics can be costly, difficult and time consuming and is subject to evolving reporting standards, including recent legislation in California related to reporting greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk, the SEC’s climate-related reporting requirements (which are currently suspended, pending the outcome of ongoing legal challenges), and similar proposals by other international regulatory bodies such as in the European Union, especially to the extent these standards are not harmonized or consistent.

We have established strategies and expectations for our business relating to certain sustainability considerations, including regarding reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing use of electricity from renewable energy sources, reducing waste and improving safety performance. These strategies and expectations reflect our current business plans and aspirations, and there is no guarantee that they will be achieved. Our ability to achieve any such strategies or expectations is subject to numerous factors and conditions, many of which are outside of our control. Examples of such factors include, but are not limited to, evolving

legal, regulatory and other standards, processes and assumptions; the pace of scientific and technological developments; increased costs; the availability of requisite suppliers, energy sources, or financing; and changes in carbon markets and carbon accounting rules. The pursuit of our strategies or expectations, failures or delays (whether actual or perceived) in achieving our strategies or expectations or changes to our strategies or expectations related to these matters could expose us to potential liabilities, increased costs, reputational harm and other adverse effects on our business.

Furthermore, many governments, regulators, investors, employees, customers, media outlets and other stakeholders are focused on sustainability considerations relating to businesses, including climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, natural capital circularity, human capital and belonging, and employee experience. Our business may face scrutiny from such stakeholders and if our strategies or expectations relating to sustainability considerations do not meet stakeholder expectations and standards (including with respect to establishing science-based targets), which continue to evolve and may differ across jurisdictions in which we operate, our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation could be adversely impacted. Similarly, our failure or perceived failure to pursue or fulfill our strategies and expectations; comply with federal, state, or international ethical, environmental, or other standards, regulations, or expectations; adhere to public statements; satisfy new and emerging reporting standards; or meet evolving and varied stakeholder expectations within the timelines we announce, or at all, could have adverse operational, reputational, financial and legal impacts.

Our business, reputation, image and brands could be damaged by negative publicity.

Our customers are increasingly looking for decarbonization solutions, and we are leveraging our network of landfills to meet that need. Republic is committed to harnessing landfill gas, a natural byproduct of decomposing waste, and converting it to energy. More than 89% of our landfill acreage is covered by gas collection systems. Collecting and converting landfill gas into renewable energy provides economic and environmental benefits, including reducing fugitive greenhouse gas emissions.

As of December 31, 2025, we were engaged in 77 landfill gas-to-energy projects at our landfills. The majority of these projects were developed and are owned and operated by a third party, where we earn a royalty from our supply of landfill gas to the renewable energy production facilities. We presently have more than 30 landfill gas-to-energy projects in development that are expected to begin operations in the coming years. Many of these projects produce or are expected to produce renewable natural gas, a low carbon, pipeline-quality fuel that’s fully interchangeable with fossil fuel-derived natural gas; it can be used as a transportation fuel in commercial fleets, including our own.

We also are producing renewable energy at our landfills through solar projects we host at seven sites, which generate clean electricity for local communities.

Other Services

Other revenue consists primarily of National Accounts revenue generated from nationwide or regional contracts in markets outside our operating areas where the associated material handling services are subcontracted to local operators. Consequently, substantially all of this revenue is offset with related subcontract costs, which are recorded in cost of operations.

Competition

We operate in a competitive industry. Competition in the environmental services industry comes from a few other large, national publicly-owned companies, several regional publicly- and privately-owned companies and thousands of small privately-owned companies. In any given market, competitors may have larger operations and greater resources. In addition, we

compete with municipalities that maintain material collection or disposal operations. These municipalities may have financial advantages due to the availability of tax revenue and greater opportunities for tax-exempt financing.