Honeywell International · Risk factors

•Aerospace Technologies—Our Aerospace business is impacted by customer buying patterns of aftermarket parts, supplier stability, factory transitions, and global supply chain capacity constraints that may lead to shortages of crucial components. Operating results may be adversely affected by downturns in the global demand for air travel, which may impact new aircraft production or result in the delay or cancellation of new aircraft orders, delays in launch schedules for new aircrafts, the retirement of aircrafts, and reductions in global flying hours, which impacts air transport and regional, business, and general aviation aircraft utilization rates. Operating results may also be adversely affected by any decrease in air travel demand due to regional restrictions or suspension of service for events related to public health, safety, the environment, or regional conflicts.

Operating results could also be impacted by changes in overall trends related to end market demand for the product portfolio, as well as new entrants and non-traditional players entering the market. Operating results in our Defense and Space business unit may be affected by the mix of U.S. and foreign government appropriations for defense and space programs and by compliance risks. Results may also be impacted by the potential introduction of counterfeit parts into our global supply chain.

•Industrial Automation—Operating results may be adversely impacted by reduced investments in process automation, safety monitoring, and plant capacity utilization initiatives, fluctuations in retail markets, a slowdown in demand for safety products, changes in the competitive landscape, including new market entrants and new technologies that may lead to product commoditization, and adverse industry economic conditions, all of which could result in lower market share, reduced selling prices, and lower margins.

•Building Automation—Operating results may be adversely impacted by downturns in the level of global buildings and infrastructure construction activity (including retrofits and upgrades), lower capital spending and operating expenditures on projects, changes in the competitive landscape, including new market entrants and new technologies, and fluctuations in inventory levels in distribution channels.

Operating results may be adversely impacted by downturns in capacity utilization for chemical, industrial, refining, petrochemical, and semiconductor plants, our customers’ availability of capital for refinery construction and expansion, raw material demand and supply, product commoditization, continued illegal imports of hydrofluorocarbons into Europe, and our ability to maximize our facilities’ production capacity and minimize downtime. Periods of increased volatility in oil and natural gas prices may result in less investment by our customers and therefore, lower demand for our products and services.

Our international operations, including U.S. exports, represent more than half of the Company’s sales. Risks related to international operations include exchange control regulations, wage and price controls, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, antitrust regulations, employment regulations, foreign investment laws, import, export, and other trade restrictions and barriers (such as tariffs, sanctions, and embargoes), differing levels of protection of intellectual property, acts of industrial espionage, violations by our employees of anti-corruption laws (despite our efforts to mitigate such risk), changes in regulations regarding transactions with state-owned enterprises, nationalization of private enterprises, acts of terrorism, acts of war, civil strife, and our ability to hire and maintain qualified staff and maintain the safety of our employees in these regions.

Instability and uncertainties arising from the global geopolitical environment and the evolving international and domestic political, regulatory, and economic landscape, including the potential for changes in global trade policies, such as sanctions and trade barriers, and trends such as populism, economic nationalism, and negative sentiment toward multinational companies, as well as the cost of compliance with increasingly complex and often conflicting regulations worldwide, can impair our flexibility in modifying product, marketing, pricing, or other strategies for growing our businesses, as well as our ability to improve productivity and maintain acceptable operating margins.

Existing free trade laws and regulations provide certain beneficial duties and tariffs for qualifying imports and exports. Changes in laws or policies governing the terms of foreign trade, and in particular increased trade restrictions, tariffs, or taxes on imports from countries where we manufacture products or from where we import products or raw materials, either directly or through our suppliers, could have an impact on our competitive position and financial results.

The U.S. continues to implement certain trade actions, including imposing tariffs on certain goods imported from China and other countries, which has resulted in retaliatory tariffs by China and other countries. More significant tariffs have been proposed by the new administration in the U.S., although it is not possible to predict the extent or focus of any such tariffs at this time. Additional tariffs, export controls, and sanctions laws imposed by the U.S. on a broader range of imports, or further retaliatory trade measures taken by China or other countries in response, could increase the cost of our products.

In response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. and other countries imposed actions including sanctions, export and import controls, and trade restrictions with respect to Russian and Belarusian governments, government-related entities, and other entities and individuals. Further, the Russian government implemented retaliatory actions against the U.S. and other nation members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as certain other nations. Given the uncertainty inherent in our remaining obligations related to our contracts with Russian counterparties, we do not believe it is possible to develop estimates of reasonably possible loss in excess of current accruals for these matters. As the conflict continues to evolve, existing conditions may worsen, or other impacts, including escalation of the conflict in other regions of Europe where there is a material portion of our business, increased tension between Russia and the U.S. and other NATO members and other countries, or other impacts that are unknown at this time, could lead to increased charges and could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position.

These impacts may result in increased costs or additional impacts on our operations and may adversely affect our ability to meet contractual and financial obligations, results of operations, and financial condition.

To the extent the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate, including as a result of the policies of the new administration in the U.S. (which we are unable to predict at this time), it may also negatively impact other risk factors disclosed in this Form 10-K and further impact our financial results. Such risks include, but are not limited to, adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, including inflation and consumer spending; cybersecurity incidents and other disruptions to our information technology (IT) infrastructure or that of our customers and suppliers, including disruptions at our cloud computing, server, systems, and other third party IT service providers; adverse changes in international trade policies and relations; our ability to implement and execute our business strategy, particularly in Eastern Europe and surrounding regions; disruptions in global supply chains; energy shortages; terrorist activities targeting U.S. government contractors and/or critical infrastructure; our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations; and constraints, volatility, or disruption in the capital markets.

Operating outside of the U.S. also exposes us to foreign exchange risk, which we monitor and seek to reduce through hedging activities. However, foreign exchange hedging activities bear a financial cost and may not always be available to us or be successful in eliminating such volatility. Finally, we generate significant amounts of cash outside of the U.S. that is invested with financial and non-financial counterparties. While we employ comprehensive controls regarding global cash management to guard against cash or investment loss and to ensure our ability to fund our operations and commitments, a material disruption to the counterparties with whom we transact business could expose Honeywell to financial loss.

Operating outside the U.S. also exposes us to additional intellectual property risk. The laws and enforcement practices of certain jurisdictions in which we operate may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as in the U.S. and may impose joint venture, technology transfer, local service or other foreign investment requirements, and restrictions that potentially compromise control over our technology and proprietary information. Failure of foreign jurisdictions to protect our intellectual property rights, an inability to effectively enforce such rights in foreign jurisdictions, or the imposition of foreign jurisdiction investment or sourcing restrictions or requirements could result in loss of valuable proprietary information and could impact our competitive position and financial results.

Significant changes in actual investment return on pension assets, discount rates, and other factors could adversely affect our results of operations and require cash pension contributions in future periods. Changes in discount rates and actual asset returns different than our anticipated asset returns can result in significant non-cash actuarial gains or losses, which we record in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year, and, if applicable, in any quarter in which an interim remeasurement is triggered. With regard to cash pension contributions, funding requirements for our pension plans are largely dependent upon interest rates, actual investment returns on pension assets, and the impact of legislative or regulatory changes related to pension funding obligations.

The cost of raw materials is a key element in the cost of our products, particularly in Energy and Sustainability Solutions (copper, fluorspar, tungsten salts, ethylene, aluminum, and molybdenum) and in Aerospace Technologies (nickel, steel, titanium, and other metals). As of December 31, 2024, the majority of the raw materials supply base of Aerospace Technologies and Energy and Sustainability Solutions were under contract. While we have implemented mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of supply chain disruptions, any inability to source necessary materials when and as needed, offset material price or labor inflation through increased prices to customers, formula-driven or long-term fixed price contracts with suppliers, productivity actions, or commodity hedges could adversely affect our results of operations.

Many major components, product equipment items, and raw materials, particularly in Aerospace Technologies, are procured or subcontracted on a single or sole-source basis. Although we maintain a qualification and performance surveillance process and we believe that sources of supply for raw materials and components are generally adequate, it is difficult to predict what effects shortages or price increases, in addition to other supply chain disruptions, may have in the future. Our ability to manage inventory and meet delivery requirements may be constrained by our suppliers’ inability to scale production and adjust delivery of long-lead time products during times of volatile demand. In addition, current or future global economic uncertainty, including inflation and high interest rates, supply chain and labor disruptions, unemployment rates, banking instability, any U.S. government shutdown, any downgrades in the U.S. government's sovereign credit rating, public health crises, volatile financial markets, geopolitical instability and regional conflicts, and potential recession may affect the financial stability of our key suppliers or their access to financing, which may in turn affect their ability to perform their obligations to us.

If one or more of our suppliers experiences financial difficulties, delivery delays, or other performance problems, our resulting inability to fill our supply needs would jeopardize our ability to fulfill obligations under commercial and government contracts, which could, in turn, result in reduced sales and profits, contract penalties or terminations, and damage to customer relationships.

In an effort to reduce the impact of current and future supply chain disruptions, we have implemented short-term and long-term strategies to reduce the impact of such disruptions, including pricing actions, longer-term planning for constrained materials, material supply tracking tools, direct engagement with key suppliers to meet customer demand, and development of new or redesigned products that satisfy our product quality controls and engineering qualifications and/or any applicable regulatory requirements. We cannot provide any assurance that our mitigation strategies will continue to be successful, or that we will be able to alter our strategies or develop new strategies if and as needed.

We regularly review our portfolio of businesses and pursue growth through acquisitions and seek to divest non-core businesses. We may not be able to complete transactions on favorable terms, on a timely basis, or at all. In addition, our results of operations and cash flows may be adversely impacted by (i) the failure of acquired businesses to meet or exceed expected returns, including risk of impairment; (ii) the failure to integrate multiple acquired businesses into Honeywell simultaneously and on schedule and/or to achieve expected synergies; (iii) the inability to dispose of non-core assets and businesses on satisfactory terms and conditions; and (iv) the discovery of unanticipated liabilities, labor relations difficulties, cybersecurity concerns, compliance issues, or other problems in acquired businesses for which we lack contractual protections, insurance or indemnities, or, with regard to divested businesses, claims by purchasers to whom we have provided contractual indemnification.

The Company has previously announced its intent to (i) spin off its Advanced Materials business, which is part of its Energy and Sustainability Solutions reportable business segment (the “AM Spin-off”), and (ii) separate its Aerospace Technologies segment from Automation, which will comprise its Industrial Automation, the Building Automation, and the remainder of the Energy and Sustainability Solutions segments (the “Automation and Aerospace Separation”), into standalone, publicly traded companies, in transactions that are intended to be tax-free for the Company’s shareowners for U.S. federal income tax purposes (together, the “Separations”). The AM Spin-off is expected to continue concurrent with the Automation and Aerospace Separation. Each of the Separations will be subject to the satisfaction of a number of customary conditions, including, among others, finalization of applicable financial statements, the filing and effectiveness of applicable filings (including Form 10 registration statements) with the SEC, assurance that the transactions will be tax-free to Honeywell’s shareowners, receipt of applicable regulatory and other customary approvals, and final approval by Honeywell’s Board of Directors.

The failure to satisfy all of the required conditions for either Separation, as well as additional factors such as conditions in the equity and debt markets and other external conditions, including, but not limited to, shareowner actions or challenges relating to either Separation or to other aspects of the Company’s business or strategy, many of which are outside of the Company’s control, could delay the completion of one or both of the Separations relative to their respective anticipated timelines or prevent one or both from occurring. These or other unanticipated developments could also cause one or both of the Separations to occur on terms or conditions that are less favorable than anticipated.

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that either of the Separations, if completed, will be successful in meeting its objectives or achieving its intended benefits. Whether or not the Separations are ultimately completed, the Company and our business may face challenges, including as a result of actions or challenges from shareowners, including activist shareowners, that may not be aligned with our business strategies or the interests of our other shareowners, including potential business disruption; the diversion of management’s time; and potential negative impacts on the Company’s relationships with its customers, employees, regulators, and other counterparties. Any of these factors could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the price of our common stock, which may exhibit significant fluctuations based on temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the fundamental underlying value of our business or of the standalone, publicly traded companies that would be formed following the planned Separations.

Our future growth rate depends upon a number of factors, including our ability to (i) identify and evolve with emerging technological and broader industry trends, including technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in our target end markets; (ii) develop and maintain competitive products; (iii) defend our market share against an ever-expanding number of competitors, including many new and non-traditional competitors; (iv) enhance our products by adding innovative features that differentiate our products from those of our competitors and prevent commoditization of our products; (v) develop, manufacture, and bring compelling new products to market quickly and cost-effectively; (vi) monitor disruptive technologies and business models; (vii) achieve sufficient return on investment for new products introduced based on capital expenditures and research and development spending; (viii) respond to changes in overall trends related to end market demand; and (ix) attract, develop, and retain individuals with the requisite technical expertise and understanding of customers’ needs to develop new technologies and introduce new products.

Competitors may also develop after-market services and parts for our products which attract customers and adversely affect our return on investment for new products. The failure of our technologies or products to gain market acceptance due to more attractive offerings by our competitors or the failure to address any of the above factors could significantly reduce our revenues and adversely affect our competitive standing and prospects. Emerging technology, such as generative artificial intelligence, is complex and rapidly evolving, and while we aim to develop and use artificial intelligence responsibly, we may ultimately be unsuccessful in identifying or resolving all issues, and the technologies that we develop, or use may ultimately be flawed which could harm our reputation and expose us to risks related to such inaccuracies or errors in these outputs.

Our profitability and margin growth are dependent upon our ability to drive sustainable improvements. We seek productivity and cost savings benefits through repositioning actions and projects, such as consolidation of manufacturing facilities, transitions to cost-competitive regions, and product line rationalizations. Risks associated with these actions include delays in execution, additional unexpected costs, realization of fewer than estimated productivity improvements, and adverse effects on employee morale. We may not realize the full operational or financial benefits we expect, the recognition of these benefits may be delayed, and these actions may potentially disrupt our operations. In addition, organizational changes, increased attrition, failure to create and implement a succession plan for key Company positions, not retaining key talent, inability to attract new employees with unique skills, trends in rising labor costs and labor availability, labor relations difficulties, or workforce stoppage could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial position, and results of operations.

Additionally, certain personnel may be required to receive various clearances and substantial training in order to work on certain programs or perform certain tasks. Necessary security clearances may be delayed, which may impact our ability to perform on our U.S. government contracts. We also may not be successful in training or developing qualified personnel with the requisite relevant skills or security clearances.

U.S. government contracts are subject to termination by the government, either for the convenience of the government or for our failure to perform consistent with the terms of the applicable contract. Our contracts with the U.S. government are also subject to government audits that may recommend downward price adjustments and other changes. When appropriate and prudent, we made adjustments and paid voluntary refunds in the past and may do so in the future. In addition, U.S. government contracts are subject to congressional funding, which may be unavailable due to changes in priorities or subject to continuing resolution, which may result in funding reductions, eliminations, or other effects that could impact our business.

We are also subject to government investigations of business practices and compliance with government procurement and security regulations. If, as a result of any such investigation or other government investigations (including investigation of violations of certain environmental, employment, or export laws), Honeywell or one of its businesses were found to have violated applicable law, then it could be suspended from bidding on or receiving awards of new government contracts, suspended from contract performance pending the completion of legal proceedings, and/or have its export privileges suspended.

Mainly because of past operations and operations of predecessor companies, we are subject to potentially material liabilities related to the remediation of environmental hazards and to claims of personal injuries or property damages that may be caused by hazardous substance releases and exposures. We continue to incur remedial response and voluntary clean-up costs for site contamination and are a party to lawsuits and claims associated with environmental and safety matters, including past production of products containing hazardous substances. Additional lawsuits, claims, and costs involving environmental matters are likely to continue to arise in the future. Various federal, state, local, and foreign governments regulate the use of certain materials, the discharge of materials into the environment, and/or communications respecting certain materials in our products, and can impose substantial fines and criminal sanctions for violations, and require injunctive relief measures, including installation of costly equipment, implementation of operational changes to limit emissions and/or decrease the likelihood of accidental hazardous substance releases, or limiting access of our products to markets, among others.

In addition, changes in laws, regulations and enforcement of policies, the discovery of previously unknown contamination or new technology or information related to individual sites, the establishment of stricter toxicity standards with respect to certain contaminants, or the imposition of new clean-up requirements or remedial techniques could require us to incur additional costs in the future that would have a negative effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Cybersecurity is a critical component of the Company’s enterprise risk management program. Global cybersecurity threats and incidents can range from uncoordinated individual attempts to gain unauthorized access to IT, operational technology, and online services infrastructure to sophisticated and targeted measures known as advanced persistent threats, directed at the Company, its products, its customers, and/or its third-party software and service providers, including cloud providers. Our customers, including the U.S. government, are increasingly requiring cybersecurity protections and mandating cybersecurity standards in our products, and we may incur additional costs to comply with such demands. While we have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, these types of threats and incidents, none of them to date have been material to the Company.

We seek to deploy comprehensive measures to deter, prevent, detect, respond to, and mitigate these threats, including identity and access controls, data protection, vulnerability assessments, continuous monitoring of our IT networks and systems, and maintenance of backup and protective systems. Despite these efforts, cybersecurity incidents (against us, parties with whom we contract, or software used in our business), including incidents due to human error, third-party action, including actions of foreign actors, which risk may be exacerbated by the current Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts and U.S. and international response, insider attacks, the introduction of computer viruses and/or malicious or destructive code, phishing or denial-of-service attacks, the introduction of computer viruses and/or malicious or destructive code, ransomware or other malware, social engineering, malfeasance, other unauthorized physical or electronic access, or other vulnerabilities, depending on their nature and scope, could potentially result in the misappropriation, destruction, corruption or unavailability of critical data and confidential or proprietary information (our own or that of third parties), theft of funds, and the disruption of business operations.

In addition, the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to sensitive data continue to evolve and become more sophisticated and may not be recognized until launched against a target; accordingly, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures, and future cybersecurity incidents could go undetected and persist for an extended period of time. Furthermore, to the extent artificial intelligence capabilities continue to improve and are increasingly adopted, they may be used to identify vulnerabilities and craft increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity attacks, including the use of generative artificial intelligence to conduct more sophisticated social engineering attacks on the Company, suppliers, or customers. In addition, vulnerabilities may be introduced from the use of artificial intelligence by us, our financial services providers and other vendors and third-party providers.

Our customers, partners (including our suppliers), subcontractors, and other third parties to whom we entrust confidential data, and on whom we rely on to provide products and services, face similar threats and growing requirements. While we aim to perform cybersecurity due diligence on our key vendors and service providers, we do not control such third parties, and our ability to monitor their cybersecurity-related controls, safeguards and processes is limited. Further, we cannot ensure the cybersecurity measures they take will be sufficient to protect any information we share with them or prevent any disruption arising from a technology failure, cyber-attack, or other information or security breach. We depend on such parties to implement adequate controls and safeguards to protect against and report cyber incidents.

If such parties fail to deter, detect, or report cybersecurity incidents in a timely manner, we may suffer from financial and other harm, including to our information, operations, performance, employees, and reputation.

The potential consequences of a material cybersecurity incident and its effects include financial loss, reputational damage, litigation with third parties, theft of intellectual property, fines levied by the Federal Trade Commission or other government agencies, diminution in the value of our investment in research, development, and engineering, and increased cybersecurity protection and remediation costs due to the increasing sophistication and proliferation of threats, which in turn could have a material impact on our competitiveness, business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, cybersecurity laws and regulations continue to evolve, and are increasingly demanding, both in the U.S. and globally, which adds compliance complexity and may increase our costs of compliance and expose us to reputational damage or litigation, monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, or fines in one or more jurisdictions.

We cannot be certain that our cybersecurity insurance coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred, that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim.

An increasing number of our products, services, and technologies are delivered with IoT capabilities and the accompanying interconnected device networks, which include sensors, data, and advanced computing capabilities. We have developed product software designs that we believe are less susceptible to cyber-attacks, but despite these efforts, if our products and services that include IoT solutions, inclusive of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, do not work as intended or are compromised, the possible consequences include financial loss, reputational damage, exposure to legal claims or enforcement actions, theft of intellectual property, and diminution in the value of our investment in research, development, and engineering, which in turn could adversely affect our competitiveness and results of operations.

We collect, store, have access to, and otherwise process certain confidential or sensitive data, including proprietary business information, personal data, or other information that is subject to data privacy and security laws, regulations, and/or contractual obligations with third parties. Despite our efforts to protect such data, we may be vulnerable to material security breaches, theft, misplaced or lost data, programming errors, or human errors that could potentially lead to the compromise of such data, improper use of our products, systems, software solutions, or networks, unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction of data, defective products, production downtimes, and operational disruptions. A significant actual or perceived risk of theft, loss, fraudulent use or misuse of customer, employee, or other data, whether by us, our suppliers, channel partners, customers, or other third parties, as a result of employee error or malfeasance, or as a result of the imaging, software, security, and other products we incorporate into our products, as well as non-compliance with applicable industry standards or our contractual or other legal obligations or privacy and information security policies regarding such data, could result in costs, fines, litigation, or regulatory actions, or could lead customers to select the products and services of our competitors.

In addition, we operate in an environment in which there are different and potentially conflicting laws in effect in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions in which we operate, and we must understand and comply with each law and standard in these jurisdictions while also ensuring the data is secure. Many of these laws impose stringent requirements as to how we collect, store, maintain, transfer, and otherwise process personal data and provide significant or material penalties for noncompliance. Many jurisdictions have passed or are considering laws that require personal data relating to their residents or citizens to be maintained or replicated on local servers or impose specific obligations related to extraterritorial data transfers.

Government enforcement actions can be costly and interrupt the regular operation of our business, and actual or alleged violations of such laws, including in relation to the Company’s processing of personal data or adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, can result in fines, reputational damage, and civil lawsuits, any of which may adversely affect our business, reputation, and financial statements.

Our facilities, supply chains, distribution systems, and IT systems are subject to catastrophic loss due to natural disasters or other weather-related disruptions, including hurricanes and floods, which may be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, power outages, fires, explosions, terrorism, equipment failures, sabotage, cyber incidents, any potential effects of climate change and adverse weather conditions, including water scarcity and rising sea levels, labor disputes, critical supply failure, inaccurate downtime forecast, political disruption and regional conflicts, public health crises, like a regional or global pandemic, and other reasons, which can result in undesirable consequences, including financial losses and damaged relationships with customers. We employ IT systems and networks to support the business and rely on them to process, transmit and store electronic information, and to manage or support a variety of business processes and activities.

Although preventative measures may help to mitigate damage, such measures could be costly, and disruptions to our manufacturing facilities or IT infrastructure from system failures, shutdowns, power outages and energy shortages, telecommunication or utility failures, cybersecurity incidents, and other events, including disruptions at our cloud computing, server, systems, and other third party IT service providers, could interfere with our operations, interrupt production and shipments, damage customer and business partner relationships, and negatively impact our reputation. In addition, the insurance we maintain may not be adequate to cover our losses resulting from any business interruption, including those resulting from a natural disaster or other severe weather event, and recurring extreme weather events or other adverse events could reduce the availability or increase the cost of insurance.

We maintain long-term contractual relationships with many of our customers, suppliers, and other counterparties. While we monitor the financial health of these counterparties, we are exposed to credit and market risks of such counterparties, including those concentrated in the same or similar industries and geographic regions. Changes in political and economic conditions could also lead to concerns about the creditworthiness of counterparties and their ability to pay in the same or similar industry or geography, impacting our ability to renew our long-term contractual arrangements or collect amounts due under these arrangements. Among other factors, geopolitical events, inflation, rising interest rates, banking instability, and changes in economic conditions, including an economic downturn or recession, could also result in the credit deterioration or insolvency of a significant counterparty.

In response to growing customer, investor, employee, governmental, and other stakeholder interest in our ESG practices, including our procedures, standards, performance metrics, and goals, we have increased reporting of our ESG programs and performance and have established and announced goals and other objectives related to ESG matters. These goal statements reflect our current plans and aspirations and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them. Our ability to achieve any goal or objective, including with respect to ESG initiatives, is subject to numerous risks, many of which are outside of our control. Examples of such risks include: (i) the availability and cost of low- or non-carbon-based energy sources and technologies, (ii) evolving regulatory requirements affecting ESG standards or disclosures, (iii) the availability of suppliers that can meet our sustainability, diversity and other standards, (iv) our ability to recruit, develop, and retain diverse talent in our labor markets, and (v) the impact of our organic growth and acquisitions or dispositions of businesses or operations.

In addition, standards for tracking and reporting on ESG matters have not been harmonized and continue to evolve. Our processes and controls for reporting of ESG matters may not always comply with evolving and disparate standards for identifying, measuring, and reporting ESG metrics, our interpretation of reporting standards may differ from those of others, and such standards may change over time, any of which could result in significant revisions to our performance metrics, goals, or reported progress in achieving such goals. In addition, certain of our products and services, including offerings in our Defense and Space business unit, are unattractive to certain investors and may cause us to be increasingly subject to ESG-driven investment practices that preclude investment in our debt and equity.

On the other hand, some investors have a negative response to ESG practices as a result of anti-ESG sentiment and may choose not to invest in us, or divest in their holdings of us, as a result of our ESG practices and initiatives. Furthermore, there is also an increasing number of state-level anti-ESG initiatives in the U.S. that may conflict with other regulatory requirements, resulting in regulatory uncertainty.

If our ESG practices or business portfolio do not meet evolving investor or other stakeholder expectations and standards, then our reputation, our ability to attract or retain employees, and our attractiveness as an investment, supplier, business partner, or acquiror could be negatively impacted. Our failure or perceived failure to pursue or fulfill our goals, targets, and objectives or to satisfy various reporting standards within the timelines we announce, or at all, could have similar negative impacts and expose us to government enforcement actions and private litigation.

The effects of climate change could create financial risks to our business. For example, the effects of physical impacts of climate change could disrupt our operations by impacting the availability and cost of materials needed for manufacturing, exacerbate existing risks to our supply chain, disrupt our operations, and increase insurance and other operating costs. These factors may impact our decisions to construct new facilities or maintain existing facilities in areas most prone to physical climate risks. We could also face indirect financial risks passed through the supply chain and disruptions that could result in increased prices for our products and the resources needed to produce them.

The growing focus on addressing global climate change has resulted in more regulations designed to reduce GHG emissions and more customer demand for products and services that have a lower carbon footprint or that help businesses and consumers reduce carbon emissions throughout their value chains. These regulations tend to be implemented under global, national and sub-national climate objectives or policies, and target the global warming potential of refrigerants, energy efficiency, and the combustion of fossil fuels. Although we offer and continue to invest in developing solutions that help our customers meet their carbon reduction and sustainability goals, many of our products combust fossil fuels, consume energy, and use refrigerants.

Regulations and carbon reduction goals which seek to reduce GHG emissions could reduce demand for such products and present a risk to our business. We may be required to further increase research and development and other capital expenditures in order to develop offerings that meet these new regulations, standards, and customer demands. There can be no assurance that our new product development efforts will be successful, that our products will be accepted by the market, or that economic returns will reflect our investments in new product development.

Our future results of operations could be adversely affected by changes in the effective tax rate as a result of a change in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in tax laws, regulations and judicial rulings (or changes in the interpretation thereof), potential taxation of digital services, changes in generally accepted accounting principles, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in the amount of earnings permanently reinvested offshore, the results of audits and examinations of previously filed tax returns and continuing assessments of our tax exposures, and various other governmental enforcement initiatives. Our tax expense includes estimates of tax reserves and reflects other estimates and assumptions, including assessments of our future earnings, which could impact the valuation of our deferred tax assets. In addition, our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles, or interpretations thereof.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/G20 and other invited countries, developed a global tax framework inclusive of a 15% global minimum tax under the Pillar Two Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules (Pillar Two). On December 15, 2022, the Council of the European Union (EU) formally adopted the OECD’s framework to achieve a coordinated implementation amongst EU Member States consistent with EU law. The EU’s Pillar Two Directive effective dates are January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, for different aspects of the directive. Other major jurisdictions are actively considering and implementing changes to their tax laws to adopt certain parts of the OECD’s proposals. We have assessed this framework and determined, based upon available guidance, that these changes will not have a material impact to our results of operations.

Any future changes in OECD guidance or interpretations, including local country tax legislative changes thereof, could impact our initial assessment; therefore, we will continue to monitor and refine our assessment as further guidance is made available.

The sales and margins of each of our reportable business segments are directly impacted by government regulations, including environmental, safety, performance, and product certification regulations. Within Aerospace Technologies, the operating results of Commercial Aviation Original Equipment and Commercial Aviation Aftermarket may be impacted by, among other things, mandates of the Federal Aviation Administration and other similar international regulatory bodies regulating the installation of equipment on aircraft. Our Defense and Space business unit may be affected by changes in government procurement regulations. Within Building Automation and Industrial Automation, the demand for and cost of providing products, services and solutions can be impacted by fire, security, safety, health care, environmental, and energy efficiency standards and regulations.

Energy and Sustainability Solutions' results of operations can be impacted by environmental and health standards, regulations, and judicial determinations, including potential per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) legislation and regulations that, if adopted, could impact the sale of certain products in our Advanced Materials business unit, without fully assessing level of risk or environmental impact. Growth in all our businesses within emerging markets may be adversely impacted by the inability to acquire and retain qualified employees where local employment law mandates may be restrictive. Changes in such regulations and government policies could negatively impact us; for instance, noncompliance with legislation and regulations can result in fines and penalties, and compliance with any new regulations or policies may be burdensome and/or require significant expenditures.

Increased public awareness and concern regarding global climate change and other ESG matters may result in more international, regional, and/or federal regulatory or other stakeholder requirements or expectations that could mandate more restrictive or expansive standards, such as stricter limits on GHG emissions or more prescriptive reporting of ESG metrics, practices, and targets, than the voluntary commitments that the Company has adopted or require such changes on a more accelerated time frame. There continues to be a lack of consistent climate and other ESG legislation, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty; however, there has been an increasing amount of legislative and regulatory activity, particularly in the European Union, United Kingdom, and U.S., although we are unable to predict at this time how the trajectory of legislative and regulatory activity in the U.S. will be impacted by the new administration.

In addition, there is also an increasing number of state-level anti-ESG initiatives in the U.S. that may conflict with other regulatory requirements, resulting in regulatory uncertainty. New or revised legal and regulatory requirements could impose significant operational restrictions and compliance requirements upon the Company or its products, and could negatively impact the Company’s business, capital expenditures, results of operations, financial condition, and competitive position.

We are currently, and may in the future become, subject to lawsuits, fines, investigations, and disputes (some of which involve substantial amounts claimed) arising out of the conduct of our business, including matters relating to commercial transactions, government contracts, product liability (including asbestos), the integration of emerging technologies (such as, but not limited to, artificial intelligence and machine learning), prior acquisitions and divestitures, employment, employee benefits plans, intellectual property, antitrust, anti-corruption, accounting, import and export, and environmental, health, and safety matters. Our potential liabilities are subject to change over time due to new developments, changes in settlement strategy or the impact of evidentiary requirements, and we may become subject to or be required to pay damage awards or settlements that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, reputation, cash flows, and financial condition.

While we maintain insurance for certain risks, the amount of our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover the total amount of all insured claims and liabilities. The incurrence of significant liabilities for which there is no or insufficient insurance coverage could adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, and financial condition. See Note 19 Commitments and Contingencies of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion regarding the uncertainty associated with asbestos-related liabilities.