Celanese Corp: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2023

Basis of Presentation

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the term "Celanese" refers to Celanese Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and not its subsidiaries. The terms "Company," "we," "our" and "us" refer to Celanese and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. The term "Celanese U.S." refers to the Company's subsidiary, Celanese US Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and not its subsidiaries.

Industry

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes industry data obtained from industry publications and surveys, as well as our own internal company surveys. Third-party industry publications, surveys and forecasts generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable.

Overview

We are a global chemical and specialty materials company. We are a leading global producer of high performance engineered polymers that are used in a variety of high-value applications, as well as one of the world's largest producers of acetyl products, which are intermediate chemicals for nearly all major industries. As a recognized innovator in the chemicals industry, we engineer and manufacture a wide variety of products essential to everyday living. Our broad product portfolio serves a diverse set of end-use applications including automotive, chemical additives, construction, consumer and industrial adhesives, medical, consumer electronics, energy storage, filtration, paints and coatings, paper and packaging, industrial applications and textiles. Our products enjoy leading global positions due to our differentiated business models, large global production capacity, operating efficiencies, proprietary technology and competitive cost structures.

Our large and diverse global customer base primarily consists of major companies across a broad array of industries. We hold geographically balanced global positions and participate in diversified end-use applications. We combine a demonstrated track record of execution, strong performance built on differentiated business models and a clear focus on growth and value creation. Known for operational excellence, reliability and execution of our business strategies, we partner with our customers around the globe to deliver best-in-class technologies and solutions.

Celanese's history began in 1918, the year that its predecessor company, The American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company, was incorporated. The company, which manufactured cellulose acetate, was founded by Swiss brothers Drs. Camille and Henri Dreyfus. The current Celanese was incorporated in 2004 under the laws of the State of Delaware and is a U.S.-based public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CE.

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, our operations are primarily located in North America, Europe and Asia and consist of 58 global production facilities and an additional 20 strategic affiliate production facilities. As of December 31, 2023, we employed 12,410 people worldwide.

Business Segment Overview

Effective December 31, 2022, we reorganized our operating and reportable segments to align with recent structural and management reporting changes. The change reflects the resegmentation of the former Acetate Tow operating and reportable segment into the Acetyl Chain operating and reportable segment. This reorganization reflects the culmination of a shift in operating strategy and organizational hierarchy, with a focus on integration, collaboration and maximization of value creation through its global optionality and integrated chain model of the underlying businesses.

We operate principally through two business segments: Engineered Materials and the Acetyl Chain. See Business Segments in this Item 1. Business and Note 21 - Segment Information and Note 22 - Revenue Recognition in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Business Segments

Engineered Materials

• Overview

Our Engineered Materials segment includes our engineered materials business and certain strategic affiliates. The engineered materials business leverages our leading project pipeline model to more rapidly commercialize projects. Our unique approach is based on deep customer engagement to develop new projects that are aligned with our skill domains to address critical customer needs and ensure our success and growth.

Engineered Materials is a project-based business where growth is driven by increasing new project commercializations from the pipeline. Our project pipeline model leverages competitive advantages that include our global assets and resources, marketplace presence, broad materials portfolio and differentiated capabilities. Our global assets and resources are represented by our operations, including polymerization, compounding, research and development, and customer technology centers in all regions of the world, including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the U.S., along with sites associated with our 17 strategic affiliates in China, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Kingdom and the U.S.

Our broad marketplace presence reflects our deep understanding of global and customer trends, including the growing global demand for more sophisticated vehicles, elevated environmental considerations, increased global connectivity, and improved health and wellness. These global trends drive a range of needed customer solutions, such as vehicle lightweighting, precise components, aesthetics and appearance, low emissions, heat resistance and low-friction for medical applications, that we are uniquely positioned to address with our materials portfolio. In addition, the opportunity pipeline process identifies a number of emerging trends early, enabling faster growth.

Our materials portfolio offers differentiated chemical and physical properties that enable them to perform in a variety of conditions. These include enduring a wide range of temperatures, resisting adverse chemical interactions and withstanding deformation. Nylon compounds are used in a range of applications including automotive, consumer, electrical, electronic and industrial. These value-added applications in diverse end uses support the business' global growth objectives. POM, PBT and LFRT are used in a broad range of performance-demanding applications, including fuel system components, automotive safety systems, consumer electronics, appliances, industrial products and medical applications. UHMW-PE is used in battery separators, industrial products, filtration equipment, coatings and medical applications. Primary end uses for LCP are electrical applications or products and consumer electronics. Thermoplastic elastomers offer unique attributes for use in automotive, appliances, consumer goods, electrical, electronic and industrial applications.

We also have several differentiated polymer technologies designed for the utility industry, the oil and gas industry, original equipment manufacturers and companies that enhance supply chain efficiency. These include composite technologies for the utility industry that deliver greater reliability, capacity and performance for utility transmission lines.

Our differentiated capabilities are highlighted in our intimate and unique customer engagement which allows us to work across the entirety of our customers' value chain. For example, in the automotive industry we work with original equipment manufacturers as well as system and tier suppliers and injection molders in numerous areas, including polymer formulation and functionality, part and structural design, mold design, color development, part testing and part processing. This broad access allows us to create a demand pull for our solutions. This business segment also includes 17 strategic affiliates that complement our global reach, improve our ability to capture growth opportunities in emerging economies and positions us as a leading participant in the global specialty polymers industry.

In July 2020, we announced that we are establishing a European Compounding Center of Excellence at our Forli, Italy facility, which includes the intended consolidation of our compounding operations in Kaiserslautern, Germany; Wehr, Germany; and Ferrara Marconi, Italy. This consolidation was completed in 2023 and are included in our Engineered Materials segment.

In November 2022, we acquired a majority of the Mobility & Materials business (the "M&M Business") of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. ("DuPont") pursuant to a definitive transaction agreement entered into in February 2022 by us, DuPont and an affiliate of DuPont (the "M&M Acquisition"). The M&M Acquisition was completed for a purchase price of $11.0 billion, subject to transaction adjustments. The M&M Business is a leading global producer of engineering thermoplastics and elastomers serving a variety of end-uses including automotive, electrical and electronics, consumer goods and industrial applications. The acquired M&M Business product portfolio includes numerous specialty materials with global leadership positions in nylons, specialty nylons polyesters and elastomers. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

On September 27, 2023, we formed a food ingredients joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui") under the name Nutrinova. We contributed receivables, inventory, property, plant and equipment, certain other assets, other liabilities, technology and employees of our food ingredients business while retaining a 30% interest in the joint venture. Mitsui acquired the remaining 70% interest in the food ingredients business for a purchase price of $503 million. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

• Key Products

Nylon. Our nylon products include Nylfor® A (PA 6.6), Nylfor® B (PA 6), NILAMID® (PA 6, PA 66, PPA), FRIANYL® (flame retardant PA 6, PA 66, PPA compounds), ECOMID® (recycled polyamide), Zytel® (PA, PA 6, PA 66, PA 610, PA 612), Zytel® HTN (PPA) and Zytel® LCPA (long-chain polyamide) and are used in automotive, appliances, electrical, medical, industrial and consumer applications due to their mechanical properties, dimensional stability, high impact resistance, resistance to organic solvents, high wear and fatigue resistance even at high temperatures, and easy processing and molding.

POM. Commonly known as polyacetal in the chemical industry, POM is sold by our engineered materials business under the trademarks Celcon®, Hostaform® and Tarnoform®. POM is used for diverse end-use applications in the automotive, industrial, consumer and medical industries. These applications include mechanical parts in automotive fuel system components and window lift systems, water handling, conveyor belts, sprinkler systems, drug delivery systems and gears in large and small home appliances.

We continue to innovate and broaden the portfolio of Celcon®, Hostaform® and Tarnoform® in order to support the industry needs for higher performing polyacetal. We have expanded our portfolio to include products with higher impact resistance and stiffness, low emissions, improved wear resistance and enhanced appearance such as laser marking and metallic effects. We launched POM ECO-B, a sustainable polyacetal, which allows customers to realize reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in their end-use products and advance toward their renewable content goals.

Korea Engineering Plastics Co., Ltd., our 50%-owned strategic affiliate, manufactures POM and other engineering resins in the Asia-Pacific region. For further discussion, see Strategic Affiliates in this Item 1. Business.

National Methanol Company, our 25% owned strategic affiliate, produces methanol which is a key feedstock for POM production. Its production facilities are located in Saudi Arabia. For further discussion, see Strategic Affiliates in this Item 1. Business.

The primary raw material for POM is formaldehyde, which is manufactured from methanol. Raw materials are sourced from internal production and from third parties, generally through long-term contracts.

Polyesters. Our products include a series of thermoplastic polyesters including Celanex® PBT, Crastin® PBT, Melinex®, Mylar® and Thermx® PCT (polycyclohexylene-dimethylene terephthalate), as well as Rynite® PET, a polyester resin. These products are used in a wide variety of automotive, electrical, medical, industrial and consumer applications, including ignition system parts, radiator grilles, electrical switches, medical devices, insulation, photovoltaic panels, critical energy components, appliance and sensor housings, light emitting diodes and technical fibers.

UHMW-PE. Celanese is a global leader in UHMW-PE products, which are sold under the GUR® trademark. They are highly engineered thermoplastics designed for a variety of industrial, consumer and medical applications. Primary applications for the material include lead acid battery separators, heavy machine components, lithium ion separator membranes, and noise and vibration dampening tapes. Several specialty grades are also produced for applications in high performance filtration equipment, ballistic fibers, thermoplastic and elastomeric additives, as well as medical implants.

LFRT. Celstran® and Factor®, our LFRT products, impart extra strength and stiffness, making them more suitable for larger parts than conventional thermoplastics. These products are used in automotive, transportation and industrial applications, such as instrument panels, consoles and front end modules. LFRTs meet a wide range of end-user requirements and are excellent candidates for metal replacement where they provide the required structural integrity with significant weight reduction, corrosion resistance and the potential to lower manufacturing costs.

LCP. Vectra® and Zenite®, our LCP brands, are primarily used in electrical and electronics applications for precision parts with thin walls and complex shapes and applications requiring heat dissipation. They are also used in high heat cookware applications.

TPE. Forprene®, Sofprene® T, Laprene® and Hytrel®, our TPE brands, are primarily used in automotive, construction, appliances and consumer applications due to their ability to combine the advantages of both flexible and plastic materials. These materials are selected for their ability to stretch and return to their near original shape creating a longer life and better physical range than other materials.

TPV. SantopreneTM, DytronTM and GeolastTM, our TPV trademarks, are chemically cross-linked, high-performance materials which leverage a unique combination of engineering thermoplastic and elastomer properties. These products are used in future mobility, infrastructure, medical and sustainability applications.

Elastomers. Vamac® EAE, our elastomer brand, is primarily used in variety of demanding automotive applications, including electric and hybrid vehicle components. These materials can be formulated to provide excellent resistance to extreme temperatures and fluids.

Polypropylene. Our polypropylene products include Polifor® and Tecnoprene® and are primarily used in automotive, appliances, electrical and consumer applications due to their high impact and fatigue resistance, exceptional rigidity at high temperatures and an ability to withstand chemical agents.

VitalDose®. Our ethylene vinyl acetate ("EVA") copolymers, sold under the VitalDose® trademark, are an enabling technology used for controlled-release drugs, medical implants and combination devices, including drug-eluting implants, reliable controlled-release performance in subcutaneous and surgical implants, intravitreal and extraocular devices.

• Customers

Engineered Materials' principal customers are original equipment manufacturers and their suppliers serving the automotive, medical, industrial and consumer industries. We utilize our customer options mapping process to collaborate with our customers to identify customized solutions that leverage our broad range of polymers and technical expertise. Our engineered materials business has long-standing relationships through multi-year and annual arrangements with many of its major customers and utilizes distribution partners to expand its customer base.

Because Engineered Materials is a project-based business focused on solutions, the pricing of products in this segment is primarily based on the value-in-use and is generally independent of changes in the cost of raw materials. Therefore, in general, margins may expand or contract in response to changes in raw material costs.

See Note 22 - Revenue Recognition in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Acetyl Chain

(1) Our globally-integrated value chain positions us to provide solutions with carbon capture content across all products in the Acetyl Chain as well as other methanol derived products like acetal copolymers, including POM.

• Overview

The Acetyl Chain segment, which includes the integrated chain of acetic acid, VAM, acetic anhydride, acetate esters, emulsion polymers, EVA polymers, redispersible powders, and acetate tow businesses, is active in every major global industrial sector and serves diverse consumer end-use applications. The Acetyl Chain operates as an integrated business with the breadth and flexibility to sell solutions across the segment and across global geographies utilizing various feedstocks. These solutions include traditional vinyl-based end uses, such as paints and coatings and adhesives, as well as other unique, high-value end uses including flexible packaging, thermal laminations, wire and cable, and compounds.

Our acetyl chain business produces and supplies acetyl products, including acetic acid, VAM, acetic anhydride and acetate esters. These products are generally used as starting materials for colorants, paints, adhesives, coatings and pharmaceuticals.

Our acetyl chain business also produces organic solvents and intermediates for pharmaceutical, agricultural and chemical products.

We have focused in recent years on enhancing our ability to drive incremental value through our global production network and productivity initiatives as well as proactively managing the acetyl chain business in response to trade flows and prevailing industry trends.

Our Acetyl Chain segment has production sites in Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S. We are a global industry leader, with a broad acetyls product portfolio, leading technology, low cost production footprint and a global supply chain. We believe our production technology is among the lowest cost in the industry and provides us with global growth opportunities through low cost expansions and a cost advantage over our competitors. With decades of experience, advanced proprietary process technology and favorable capital and production costs, we are a leading global producer of acetic acid, VAM and VAE. AOPlus®3 technology extends our historical technology advantage in acetic acid and enables us to construct a world scale greenfield acetic acid facility at a lower capital cost than our competitors. Our VAntage®2 technology enables us to increase VAM capacity to meet growing customer demand globally with minimal investment. VAM produced by the acetyl chain business is a primary raw material for our emulsion polymers and EVA polymers businesses.

Our emulsion polymers business is a leading global producer of vinyl acetate-based emulsions and develops products and application technologies to improve performance, create value and drive innovation in applications such as paints and coatings, adhesives, construction, glass fiber, textiles and paper. Our emulsion polymers products are sold under globally and regionally recognized brands including EcoVAE®, Mowilith®, Vinamul®, Celvolit®, Dur-O-Set®, TufCOR®, Avicor®, Flexbond® and Resyn®.

Our EVA polymers business is a leading North American manufacturer of a full range of specialty EVA resins and compounds, as well as select grades of LDPE. Sold under the Ateva® brand, these products are used in many applications, including flexible packaging films, lamination film products, hot melt adhesives, automotive parts and carpeting.

Our RDP business is a leading global producer of redispersible polymer powders, sold under the Elotex® brand. The business consumes polymer emulsions which are converted into powdered thermoplastic resin materials. RDP products are used in a variety of applications in the mortar industry, including decorative mortar, exterior insulation and finish systems, gypsum-based materials, plaster and render, self-leveling floor systems, skim coat and tile adhesives.

Our acetate tow business is a leading global producer and supplier of acetate tow and acetate flake, primarily used in filter products applications. We hold an approximately 30% ownership interest in three separate ventures in China that produce acetate flake and acetate tow. China National Tobacco Corporation, a Chinese state-owned tobacco entity, has been our venture partner for over three decades.

• Key Products

Acetyl Products. Acetyl products include acetic acid, VAM, acetic anhydride and acetate esters. Acetic acid is primarily used to manufacture VAM, purified terephthalic acid and other acetyl derivatives. VAM is used in a variety of adhesives, paints, films, coatings and textiles. Acetic anhydride is a raw material used in the production of cellulose acetate, detergents and pharmaceuticals. Acetate esters are used in solvents for ink formulations, surface coatings, adhesives and pharmaceutical industries. We manufacture acetic acid, VAM and acetic anhydride for our own use in producing downstream, value-added products, as well as for sale to third parties.

Acetic acid and VAM leverage global supply and demand fundamentals. The principal raw materials in these products are carbon monoxide, methanol and ethylene. We generally purchase carbon monoxide under long-term contracts, and we also produce carbon monoxide in our Clear Lake facility. We generally purchase methanol and ethylene under both annual and multi-year contracts. Methanol and ethylene are commodity products and generally available from a wide variety of sources, while carbon monoxide is typically purpose-made in close proximity.

We have a joint venture, Fairway Methanol LLC ("Fairway"), with Mitsui, in which we own a 50% interest, for the production of methanol at our integrated chemical plant in Clear Lake, Texas. The methanol unit utilizes natural gas in the U.S. Gulf Coast region as a feedstock. Almost all of our North American methanol needs are met from our share of the production, as well as the long-term contract we have with our joint venture partner, Mitsui.

In December 2023, we began carbon capture and utilization ("CCU") operations at our Clear Lake site as part of our Fairway joint venture. The unit is expected to capture CO2 industrial emissions and produce low-carbon methanol which will help our global customers meet the growing demand for more sustainable and circular solutions. The products will be launched under the ECO-CC name and be supported through third-party mass balance tracking and life cycle assessment processes.

Solvents and Derivatives. We manufacture a variety of solvents, formaldehyde and other chemicals, which in turn are used in the manufacture of paints, coatings, adhesives and other products. Many solvents and derivatives products are derived from our production of acetic acid. Primary products are:

• Ethyl acetate, an acetate ester that is a solvent used in coatings, inks and adhesives;
• Butyl acetate, an acetate ester that is a solvent used in inks, pharmaceuticals and perfume; and
• Formaldehyde and paraformaldehyde, which are primarily used to produce adhesive resins for plywood, particle board, coatings, POM engineering resins and a compound used in making polyurethane.

Emulsion Polymers. Our emulsion polymers business produces conventional vinyl- and acrylate-based emulsions and VAE emulsions. VAE emulsions are a key component of water-based architectural coatings, adhesives, non-wovens, textiles, glass fiber and other applications. VAE emulsions are in high demand in Europe and Asia as they enable low volatile organic compound paints, specifically in interior paints.

EVA Polymers. Our EVA polymers business produces low-density polyethylene, EVA resins and compounds. Low-density polyethylene is produced in high-pressure reactors from ethylene, while EVA resins and compounds are produced in high-pressure reactors from ethylene and VAM.

Redispersible Powders. Our RDP business uses a number of emulsions in manufacturing redispersible powders to meet requirements for various applications and formulated to fit our customers' needs for optimal production.

Acetate tow and acetate flake. Acetate tow is a fiber used primarily in cigarette filters. In order to produce acetate tow, we first produce acetate flake by processing wood pulp with acetic acid and acetic anhydride. Wood pulp generally comes from reforested trees and is purchased externally from a variety of sources, and acetic anhydride is an intermediate chemical that we produce from acetic acid in our intermediate chemistry business. Acetate flake is then further processed into acetate tow.

• Customers

Our acetyl chain business sells its products both directly to customers and through distributors. Acetic acid, VAM, acetate esters and acetic anhydride are global businesses, and we generally supply our customers under a mix of short- and long-term agreements. Acetic acid, VAM and acetic anhydride customers produce intermediate chemicals and polymers used in water-based paints, adhesives, paper coatings, polyesters, film modifiers, pharmaceuticals, cellulose acetate and textiles. We have long-standing relationships with most of these customers. Solvents and derivatives are sold to a diverse group of regional and multinational customers under multi-year contracts and on the basis of long-standing relationships. Solvents and derivatives customers are primarily engaged in the production of paints, coatings and adhesives. We manufacture formaldehyde for our own use as well as for sale to a few regional customers.

Emulsion, RDP and EVA polymers products are sold to a diverse group of regional, family owned and multinational customers. Customers of our emulsion polymers and RDP business are manufacturers of water-based paints and coatings, adhesives, paper, building and construction products, glass fiber, non-wovens, textiles and premixed dry mortars. Customers of our EVA polymers business are engaged in the manufacture of a variety of products, including hot melt adhesives, automotive components, thermal laminations, and flexible and food packaging materials.

Acetate tow is sold principally to the major tobacco companies that account for a majority of worldwide cigarette production. Many sales are conducted under contracts with pricing for one or more years. As a result, margins may expand or contract in response to changes in market conditions over these similar periods, and we may be unable to adjust pricing due to other factors, such as the intense level of competition in the industry.

Pricing of our products within the Acetyl Chain segment is influenced by industry utilization, changes in the cost of raw materials, sensitivity to demand and the value-in-use. Therefore, in general, there is a direct correlation between these factors and our net sales for most Acetyl Chain products. This impact to pricing typically lags changes in raw material costs over months or quarters and impacts profit margins over those periods.

See Note 22 - Revenue Recognition in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Other Activities

Other Activities primarily consists of corporate center costs, including administrative activities such as finance, information technology and human resource functions, interest income and expense associated with our financing activities and results of our captive insurance companies. Our two wholly-owned captive insurance companies are a key component of our global risk management program, as well as a form of self-insurance for our liability, property and workers compensation risks. The captive insurance companies retain risk at levels approved by management and obtain reinsurance coverage from third parties to limit the net risk retained. Other Activities also includes the interest cost, expected return on assets and net actuarial gains and losses components of our net periodic benefit cost for our defined benefit pension plans and other postretirement plans, which are not allocated to our business segments. Ongoing merger, acquisition and integration related costs are also included in Other Activities.

Strategic Affiliates

Our strategic affiliates represent an important component of our strategy. During 2022, we acquired interests in several global strategic affiliates as part of the M&M Acquisition, described further below. On September 27, 2023, we formed a food ingredients joint venture with Mitsui under the name Nutrinova, also described below.

We have a substantial portfolio of affiliates in various regions, including Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and the Middle East. These affiliates have sizeable operations and are significant within their industries.

With shared characteristics such as products, applications and manufacturing technology, these strategic affiliates complement and extend our technology and specialty materials portfolio. We have historically entered into these investments to gain access to local demand, minimize costs and accelerate growth in areas we believe have significant future business potential.

Our strategic affiliates contribute substantial earnings and cash flows to us. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our equity method strategic affiliates generated combined sales of $2.1 billion, resulting in our recording $67 million of equity in net earnings of affiliates and $124 million of dividends.

Our strategic affiliates as of December 31, 2023 are as follows:

National Methanol Company. National Methanol Company ("Ibn Sina") is one of the world's largest producers of methyl tertiary-butyl ether, a gasoline additive. Its production facilities are located in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Basic Industries Corporation ("SABIC") is responsible for all product marketing. Methanol is a key feedstock for POM production and is produced by our Ibn Sina affiliate which provides an economic hedge against raw material costs in our engineered materials business.

Nutrinova Netherlands B.V. Nutrinova Netherlands B.V. ("Nutrinova") is a producer of Sunett® acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) and Nutrinova® sorbates, which are used to improve the safety, shelf-life and taste of its customers' products including food and beverages, personal care, pet food, household cleaning products and pharmaceutical products.

Korea Engineering Plastics Co., Ltd. Korea Engineering Plastics Co., Ltd. ("KEPCO") is a leading producer of POM in South Korea. KEPCO has polyacetal production facilities in Ulsan, South Korea, compounding facilities for PBT and nylon in Pyongtaek, South Korea, and participates with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. in a world-scale POM facility in Nantong, China. In December 2020, we signed a memorandum of understanding with our joint venture partners to restructure KEPCO, in which we and our joint venture partners will receive exclusive offtake rights to POM in Asia and global marketing rights without restrictions. In April 2022, we completed the joint venture restructuring of KEPCO. As part of the restructuring of KEPCO, we paid KEPCO $5 million and will have paid 5 equal annual installments of €24 million on October 1 of each year from 2022 to 2026. This resulted in an increase to our investment in KEPCO of $134 million. Our joint venture partner has made and will make similar payments to KEPCO. The restructuring did not result in a change in ownership percentage of KEPCO, nor a change in control, and KEPCO will continue to be accounted for as an equity method investment.

Fortron Industries, LLC. Fortron Industries, LLC ("Fortron") is a global producer of PPS, sold under the Fortron® brand, which is used in a wide variety of automotive and other applications, especially those requiring heat and/or chemical resistance. Fortron's facility is located in Wilmington, North Carolina. This venture combines our sales, marketing, distribution, compounding and manufacturing expertise with the PPS polymer technology expertise of Kureha America Inc.

Toray Celanese Co., Ltd. Toray Celanese Co., Ltd. manufactures Hytrel® for sale primarily in the Japanese market. Hytrel® is a versatile material with the ability to flex in multiple directions long after rubber would break. Its strength and durability, combined with its heat resilience and chemical resistance make it an essential ingredient in automotive and construction applications due to its ability to combine the advantages of both flexible and plastic materials.

DuBay Polymer GmbH. DuBay Polymer GmbH is a manufacturing joint venture with Lanxess AG for the production of PBT-based products.

DuPont Teijin Films. DuPont Teijin Films is a leading global producer of PET and polyethylene naphthalate ("PEN") polyester films, which are used in a wide variety of end markets from healthcare to industrial and electronics. Mylar® and Melinex® brand films, known for their wide range of performance capabilities, are used in a variety of applications.

DuPont Filaments. DuPont Filaments is a joint venture with Xingda for the production and sale of nylon and PBT-based filament products used in the personal care, construction and industrial end-markets.

Acetyl Chain strategic ventures. Our Acetyl Chain ventures generally fund their operations using operating cash flow and pay dividends based on each ventures' performance in the preceding year. In 2023, 2022 and 2021, we received cash dividends of $125 million, $132 million and $146 million, respectively.

Although our ownership interest in each of our Acetyl Chain ventures exceeds 20%, we account for these investments at cost after considering observable price changes for similar instruments, minus impairment, if any, because we determined that we cannot exercise significant influence over these entities due to local government investment in and influence over these entities, limitations on our involvement in the day-to-day operations and the present inability of the entities to provide timely financial information prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. Further, these investments were determined not to have a readily determinable fair value.

Other Equity Method Investments

InfraServs. We hold indirect ownership interests in several German InfraServ Groups that own and develop industrial parks and provide various technical and administrative services to tenants. Our ownership interest in the equity investments in InfraServ affiliates are as follows:

Intellectual Property

We attach importance to protecting our intellectual property, including safeguarding our confidential information and through our patents, trademarks and copyrights, in order to preserve our investment in research and development, manufacturing and marketing. Patents may cover processes, equipment, products, intermediate products and product uses. We also seek to register trademarks as a means of protecting the brand names of our Company and products.

Patents. In most industrial countries, patent protection exists for new substances and formulations, as well as for certain unique applications and production processes. However, we do business in regions of the world where intellectual property protection may be limited and difficult to enforce.

Confidential Information. We maintain stringent information security policies and procedures wherever we do business. Such information security policies and procedures include data encryption, controls over the disclosure and safekeeping of confidential information and trade secrets, as well as employee awareness training.

Trademarks. Amcel®, AOPlus®, Ateva®, Avicor®, Celanese®, Celanex®, Celanyl®, Celcon®, Celstran®, Celvolit®, Clarifoil®, Crastin®, Dur-O-Set®, Dytron®, ECOMID®, EcoVAE®, Elotex®, Factor®, Flexbond®, Forprene®, FRIANYL®, Fortron®, Geolast®, GHR®, GUR®, Hostaform®, Hytrel®, Laprene®, Melinex®, MetaLX®, Micromax®, Mowilith®, MT®, Mylar®, NILAMID®, Nylfor®, OmniLon®, Pibifor®, Pibiter®, Polifor®, Resyn®, Rynite®, Santoprene®, SlideX®, Sofprene®, Sofpur®, Talcoprene®, Tarnoform®, Tecnoprene®, TufCOR®, Tynex®, Vamac®, VAntage®, Vectra®, Vinac®, Vinamul®, VitalDose®, Zenite®, Zytel® and certain other branded products and services named in this document are registered or reserved trademarks or service marks owned or licensed by Celanese. The foregoing is not intended to be an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all registered or reserved trademarks and service marks owned or licensed by Celanese. Fortron® is a registered trademark of Fortron Industries LLC. Hostaform® is a registered trademark of Hoechst GmbH. Mowilith® and NILAMID® are registered trademarks of Celanese in most European countries.

We monitor competitive developments and defend against infringements on our intellectual property rights. Neither Celanese nor any particular business segment is materially dependent upon any one patent, trademark, copyright or trade secret.

Environmental and Other Regulation

Matters pertaining to environmental and other regulations are discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors, as well as Note 2 - Summary of Accounting Policies, Note 13 - Environmental and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

We expect to incur approximately $50 million to $70 million in capital expenditures for environmental control measures in each of 2024 and 2025.

Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most challenging and significant issues facing the world today, and we seek to do our part to make sustainable progress toward addressing this challenge.

The nature of our operations is energy and fossil fuel intensive. We have therefore invested in capital projects to increase energy efficiency, improve reliability, recover and reuse waste heat, and increase our purchase of renewable energy as well as more sustainable raw materials. These include a combined heat and power unit at our Lanaken, Belgium facility, a waste-to- energy system in Nanjing, China, using solar energy at our Clear Lake, Texas facility designed for use by us and our onsite industrial partners, and a carbon dioxide capture and conversion to methanol project at our Clear Lake, Texas facility.

We are focused on developing products to help our customers meet their sustainability goals. Examples include products for improving the sustainability of building and construction materials, adhesives, fiber coatings, flexible packaging, vehicle lightweighting and powering electric vehicles. We are also focused on making our own products from more sustainable sources, including increasing our offering products using biocertified content or recycled feedstocks. We believe these capabilities, together with trends such as the automobile industry's commitment towards improved energy efficiency and clean energy, present market opportunities for us.

With the fourth quarter 2023 publication of our 2022-2023 Sustainability Report, we have reported gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions for 2021 and 2022 using The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, as a guide. Updated 2023 emissions figures were not available at the time of this Form 10-K filing. We have also announced a Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction target described in our 2022-2023 Sustainability Report, obtained limited external assurance on our 2021 and 2022 environmental metrics, and are working to better understand where we can further reduce our GHG emissions sources and to continue to integrate the M&M Business into our GHG measurement and reporting processes.

For information on the risks we face related to climate change and other sustainability matters as well as, potential legislative and regulatory developments in this area that may increase our operating costs, potentially significantly, please see the risk factors in Item 1A. Risk Factors titled "We are subject to financial, regulatory, physical and transition risks associated with climate change or other sustainability matters as well as potential legislation, regulation and international accords to address climate change and other sustainability matters," "Changes in environmental, health and safety regulations in the jurisdictions where we manufacture or sell our products could lead to a decrease in demand for or significant restrictions on use and/or production of our products and raw materials" and "Our aspirations, goals, and initiatives related to sustainability, and our public statements and disclosures regarding them, expose us to risks." Climate-related regulatory risks are assessed as a part of our Enterprise Risk Management process. However, due to the level of uncertainty regarding what legislative or regulatory requirements may be enacted, it is not possible for us to estimate the impact of climate-related developments on our results of operations or financial conditions.

Human Capital Resources

Workforce Composition and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Our business is operated by a diverse and global workforce, with employees in the following key geographies:

15

We believe that providing a workplace that promotes mutual respect and inclusion for all employees is critical to our success and to driving innovation and growth. To that end, we continue to make progress in our efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our Company. In order to enhance our visibility to a diverse pipeline of talent and broaden our candidate pool, we engage with historically black colleges and universities ("HBCUs"), trade associations and other professional groups. We also promote engagement globally through 68 chapters of nine different Employee Resource Groups designed to inspire, develop and increase the representation and engagement of underrepresented groups.

As of December 31, 2023:

• globally, women represent approximately 33% of our senior leadership team and 26% of our overall workforce; and
• in the U.S., people of color represent approximately 11% of our senior leadership team and 28% of our overall workforce.

The following shows our attrition rate for the year ended December 31, 2023:

Stewardship: Health, Safety and Environmental

We focus on more than the occupational health and safety of our employees, contractors and any visitors to our sites. We have an expanded view and measurement of "Stewardship" that includes process safety and environmental events since these incidents may have an impact on our communities. Our Stewardship values and guiding principles are centered on a commitment to do no harm to our workforce, environment, people or communities.

Achieving and maintaining stewardship excellence is a process of continuous improvement. Our values include a commitment to the health and safety of our employees, contractors, communities and the environment.

We utilize a mixture of leading and lagging indicators to assess the Stewardship performance of our operations. Lagging indicators for occupational health and safety include Total Recordable Incident Rate ("TRIR") and Lost Time Incident Rate ("LTIR") based upon the number of incidents per 200,000 work hours of both employees and contractors. Process Safety lagging indicators follow the industry standard from API RP 754 for Tier 1 and Tier 2 events for incident count, rate, and severity. In 2023, the criteria for tracking release to the environment was enhanced to a criteria that includes impact to the community and notification to a regulatory authority outside of routine communications.

Examples of Stewardship Tier 3 leading indicators include reporting and resolution of near miss events and high potential events, losses of primary containment releases and challenges to process safety systems.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, we had a TRIR of 0.11 and an LTIR of 0.03. Through deliberate actions and intentions to understand and recognize our employees' contributions to stewardship excellence, we have reduced our TRIR rate by 58% from 2022.

Rounding out our Stewardship performance in 2023, we had 5 Tier 1 and Tier 2 process safety incidents and 5 environmental incidents. Any other loss of primary containment incidents, challenges to pressure relief systems, safety instrumented systems and safe operating limits are tracked as Tier 3 leading indicators. Our expanded tracking of leading indicator events helps identify potential emerging deficiencies that enables us to take continuous improvement actions. For example, this past year we concentrated heavily on improving our hazard identification and risk assessment and migration systems, which included expanding these concepts beyond process safety. We are also working to strengthen and fully integrate our stewardship management systems and developing new ways to establish and maintain an effective stewardship culture in a changing and evolving world around us so that all members of our workforce understand and act on their responsibilities seriously, leaders lead, and the entire workforce is fully involved and engaged. We continue to strive to create a workplace where every worker can return home safely every day.

Talent Development

We are committed to fostering an engaging and inclusive workplace with opportunities for collaboration, development and leadership. Our Talent Management strategies provide a consistent and efficient approach to how we acquire talent, manage performance, develop bench strength, support development and help employees reach their fullest potential.

We have a structured approach to reviewing talent with management, as well as with the Board of Directors. This includes discussions of employee development, executive succession, diversity, talent pipelines and workforce planning requirements. We regularly report to the Board of Directors on talent management strategies across functional areas, and annually review executive succession with the Board of Directors.

Available Information — Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") Filings and Corporate Governance Materials

We make available free of charge, through the investor portion of our internet website (http://investors.celanese.com), our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as ownership reports on Form 3 and Form 4, as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing such material with, or furnishing it to, the SEC. References to our website in this report are provided as a convenience, and the information on our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be a part of this report or incorporated into any other filings we make with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including Celanese Corporation, that electronically file with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

We also make available free of charge, through our website, our Corporate Governance Guidelines of our Board of Directors and the charters of each of the standing committees of our Board of Directors.

The following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations, and the trading price of our common stock or outstanding senior notes could decline. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face; our operations could also be affected by factors that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial to our operations. Due to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, our past financial results may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. Refer also to the other information set forth in this Form 10-K, including in Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.

Risks Related to Business and Industry Conditions

We are exposed to general economic, political and regulatory conditions and risks in the countries in which we have operations and customers.

We operate globally and have customers in many countries. Our major facilities are primarily located in North America, Europe and Asia, and we hold interests in affiliates that operate in the United States ("U.S."), Germany, China, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Our principal customers are similarly global in scope and the prices of our most significant products are typically regional or world market prices. Consequently, our business and financial results are affected, directly and indirectly, by world economic conditions, including declines in consumer and business confidence, fluctuating commodity prices and interest rates, cost inflation, instability in credit markets, volatile exchange rates and other challenges such as the changing regulatory environment.

Our operations are also subject to global political conditions. For example, any future withdrawal or renegotiation of trade agreements, or the failure to reach agreement over trade agreements, or the imposition of new or increased tariffs on our products or raw materials, or the more aggressive prosecution of trade disputes with countries like China, may increase costs or reduce profitability, or adversely affect our ability to operate our business and execute our growth strategy. In addition, it may be more difficult for us to enforce agreements, collect receivables, receive dividends and repatriate earnings through foreign legal systems. In certain foreign jurisdictions our operations are subject to nationalization and expropriation risk and some of our contractual relationships within these jurisdictions are subject to cancellation without full compensation for loss. Furthermore, in certain cases where we benefit from local government subsidies or other undertakings, such benefits are subject to the solvency of local government entities and are subject to termination without meaningful recourse or remedies.

We have invested significant resources in China and other Asian countries. This region's growth may slow, or trade flows could be negatively impacted, and we may fail to realize the anticipated benefits associated with our investment there and, consequently, our financial results may be adversely impacted.

In addition, we have significant operations and financial relationships based in Europe. Historically, sales originating in Europe have accounted for approximately one-third of our net sales annually, and accounted for approximately 32% of our Net sales in 2023. Adverse conditions in the European economy may negatively impact our overall financial results due to reduced economic growth, trade disruptions, decreased end-use customer demand or other factors.

We are subject to risks associated with the increased volatility in the prices and availability of key raw materials and energy, which could have a significant adverse effect on the margins of our products and our financial results.

We purchase significant amounts of ethylene, methanol, carbon monoxide and natural gas from third parties primarily for use in our production of basic chemicals in our intermediate chemistry business, principally acetic acid, VAM and formaldehyde. We use a portion of our output of these chemicals, in turn, as inputs in the production of downstream products in all of our business segments. We also purchase some of these raw materials for use in our emulsion polymers and EVA polymer businesses, primarily for vinyl acetate ethylene emulsions and ethylene vinyl acetate production, as well as significant amounts of wood pulp for use in our production of acetate tow. We also procure polymers, rubber and polypropylene for use in production of engineered materials, and other raw materials as additives to our products including fiberglass, flame retardant materials and other compounding components.

The prices and availability of many of these items is dependent on supply and logistics considerations. Prices can increase significantly as a result of uncertainties associated with inflationary pressures, transportation or logistics disruptions, weather, natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics, the effects of climate change or political instability, plant or production disruptions, war or conflicts, strikes or other labor unrest, breakdown or degradation of transportation infrastructure used in the delivery of raw materials and energy commodities, terrorist activities, civil unrest, or changes in laws or regulations in any of the countries in which we have significant suppliers. In particular, to the extent of our vertical integration in the production of chemicals, shortages in the availability of raw material chemicals, such as natural gas, ethylene and methanol, or the loss of our dedicated supplies of carbon monoxide, may have an increased adverse impact on us as it can cause a shortage in intermediate and finished products. Such shortages would adversely impact our ability to produce certain products and increase our costs resulting in reduced margins and adverse impacts to our financial results.

Like many companies, we experienced significant supply disruptions and increased costs of inputs during 2021 and into 2022. These trends impacted our operating costs. We undertook efforts to offset these costs through pricing actions, alternative supply arrangements, and hedging strategies, however, these do not eliminate all exposure to inflationary pressure. Should such conditions recur or resume, we cannot always successfully pass costs to customers, competitive market conditions may prevent us from doing so, and even where we are successful increased prices could lead to reduced demand for our products or could result in competitive disadvantages.

We are exposed to volatility in the prices of our raw materials and energy. Although we have long-term supply agreements, multi-year purchasing and sales agreements and forward purchase contracts providing for the supply of ethylene, methanol, carbon monoxide, wood pulp, natural gas and electricity, the contractual prices for these raw materials and energy can vary with economic conditions and may be highly volatile. In addition to the factors noted above that may impact supply or price, factors that have caused volatility in our raw material prices in the past and which may do so in the future include:

• Shortages of raw materials due to increasing demand, e.g., from growing uses or new uses;
• Capacity constraints, e.g., due to construction delays, labor disruption, government-imposed work or travel restrictions, involuntary shutdowns or turnarounds;
• A supplier's inability to meet our delivery orders, a supplier's decision not to fulfill orders or to terminate a supply contract or our inability to obtain or renew supply contracts on favorable terms;
• The general level of business, economic and industry activity; and
• The direct or indirect effect of governmental regulation (including the impact of government regulation relating to power usage, climate change or regulation of production and transport of certain chemicals).

If we are not able to fully offset the effects of higher energy and raw material costs through price increases, productivity improvements or cost reduction programs, or if such commodities become unavailable, it could have a significant adverse effect on our ability to timely and profitably manufacture and deliver our products resulting in reduced margins, lost sales and adverse impacts to our financial results.

We have a practice of maintaining, when available, multiple sources of supply for raw materials and services. However, some of our individual plants may have single sources of supply for some of their raw materials, such as carbon monoxide, steam and ethylene, or site services. Although we have been able to obtain sufficient supplies of raw materials and services, there can be no assurance that unforeseen developments will not affect our ability to source raw materials or services in the future. Even if we have multiple sources of supply for a raw material or a service, there can be no assurance that these sources can make up for the loss of a major supplier. Furthermore, if any sole source or major supplier were unable or unwilling to deliver a raw material or a service for an extended period of time, we may not be able to find an acceptable alternative or any such alternative could result in increased costs. It is also possible that profitability would be adversely affected if we were required to qualify additional sources of supply for a raw material or a service to our specifications in the event of the loss of a sole source or major supplier.

Almost all of our supply of methanol in North America is currently obtained from our Fairway joint venture with Mitsui, in which we own a 50% interest, for the production of methanol at our integrated chemical plant in Clear Lake, Texas.

Risks Related to Our Global Operations and Our Strategy

Production at our manufacturing facilities, or at our suppliers', could be disrupted for a variety of reasons, which could prevent us from producing enough of our products to maintain our sales and satisfy our customers' demands.

A disruption in production at one or more of our manufacturing facilities, or our suppliers, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Disruptions or interruptions of operations could occur for many reasons, including fire, natural disasters, severe weather, unplanned maintenance or other manufacturing problems, public health crises (including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic), disease, geopolitical events, strikes or other labor unrest, transportation interruption, government regulation, political unrest or terrorism, accidents, interruptions in sources of raw materials, cybersecurity incidents, the occurrence of acts of war, or other unforeseen events or delays in construction or operation of facilities. Alternative facilities with sufficient capacity or capabilities may not be available, may cost substantially more or may take a significant time to start production, each of which could negatively affect our business and financial performance.

We have experienced disruptions of the type described above in recent years. For example, we proactively and temporarily shut down one or more of our Texas production facilities during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 and Hurricane Laura in August 2020, each of which instances resulted in lost sales and impacted our financial results for the relevant quarter.

If one of our key manufacturing facilities is unable to produce our products for an extended period of time, our sales may be reduced by the shortfall caused by the disruption and we may not be able to meet our customers' needs, which could cause them to seek other suppliers. In particular, production disruptions at our manufacturing facilities that produce chemicals used as inputs in the production of chemicals in other business segments, such as acetic acid, VAM and formaldehyde, could have a more significant adverse effect on our business and financial performance and results of operations to the extent of such vertical integration. Furthermore, to the extent a production disruption occurs at a manufacturing facility that has been operating at or near full capacity, the resulting shortage of our product could be particularly harmful because production at such manufacturing facility may not be able to reach levels achieved prior to the disruption.

We may experience difficulties or delays achieving the intended benefits from acquiring the M&M Business and integrating its systems with the Company.

In November 2022, we completed the acquisition of the M&M Business of DuPont. Since closing we have actively worked, and continue to actively work, to integrate the M&M Business and its systems into our own. For example, in February 2024 we incorporated the M&M Business into the new enterprise resource planning ("ERP") system used by the Company. As we work to further integrate technology, information and ERP systems, financial reporting and commercial activities, it is possible that we may encounter unanticipated delays, costs or inefficiencies in connection with our continuing efforts to integrate the M&M Business. If this occurs, if the potential benefits and synergies of the M&M Business going forward do not materialize in the amounts or on the timing we expect, or if we are not as successful as we plan at aligning our and the M&M Business's practices and operations – including continuing to integrate commercial activities, information and ERP systems and technologies and continuing to align business cultures – our business, financial performance and operating results could be adversely affected.

Failure to develop new products and production technologies or to implement productivity and cost reduction initiatives successfully, may harm our competitive position.

Our operating results depend significantly on the development of commercially viable new products, product grades and applications, as well as improving process technologies. If we are unsuccessful in developing new products, applications and improved production processes in the future, including failing to leverage our opportunity pipeline in our Engineered Materials segment, our competitive position and operating results may be negatively affected. However, as we invest in new technology, we face the risk of unanticipated operational or commercialization difficulties, including an inability to obtain necessary permits or governmental approvals, the development of competing technologies, failure of facilities or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, construction delays, cost over-runs, the unavailability of financing, required materials or equipment and various other factors. Likewise, we have undertaken and are continuing to undertake initiatives in all of our business segments to improve productivity and performance and to generate cost savings. These initiatives may not be completed or beneficial or the estimated cost savings from such activities may not be realized.

We could be subject to damages based on claims brought against us by our customers or lose customers as a result of the failure of our products to meet certain quality specifications.

Our products provide important performance attributes to our customers' products. If one of our products fails to perform in a manner consistent with applicable quality specifications, a customer could seek replacement of the product or damages for costs incurred as a result of the product failing to perform as guaranteed. A successful claim or series of claims against us could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, financial condition and results of operations and could result in a loss of one or more key customers.

Our production facilities, including facilities we own and/or operate and operations at our facilities owned and/or operated by third parties, handle the processing of some volatile and hazardous materials that subject us to operating and other risks that could have a negative effect on our operating results.

Although we take precautions to enhance the safety of, and minimize the disruption to, our operations and operations at our facilities owned and/or operated by third parties, we are subject to operating and other risks associated with chemical manufacturing, including the storage and transportation of raw materials, finished products and waste. These risks include, among other things, pipeline and storage tank leaks and ruptures, explosions and fires and discharges or releases of toxic or hazardous substances. In addition, we may have limited control over operations at our facilities owned and/or operated by third parties or such operations may not be fully integrated into our safety programs.

These operating and other risks can cause personal injury, property damage, third-party damages and environmental contamination, and may result in the shutdown of affected facilities and the imposition of civil or criminal penalties. The occurrence of any of these events may disrupt production and have a negative effect on the productivity and profitability of a particular manufacturing facility, our operating results and cash flows.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and our rights to use our intellectual property. Our inability to protect and enforce these rights could reduce our ability to maintain our industry position and our profit margins.

We rely on our patents, trademarks, copyrights, know-how and trade secrets, and patents and other technology licensed from third parties, to protect our investment in research and development and our competitive commercial positions in manufacturing and marketing our products. We have adopted internal policies for protecting our know-how and trade secrets. In addition, our practice is to seek patent or trade secret protection for significant developments that provide us competitive advantages and freedom to practice for our businesses. Patents may cover catalysts, processes, products, intermediate products and product uses. These patents are usually filed in strategic countries throughout the world and provide varying periods and scopes of protection based on the filing date and the type of patent application. The legal life and scope of protection provided by a patent may vary among those countries in which we seek protection. As patents expire, the catalysts, processes, products, intermediate products and product uses described and claimed in those patents generally may become available for use by the public subject to our continued protection for associated know-how and trade secrets. We also monitor intellectual property of others, especially patents that could impact our rights to commercially implement research and development, our rights to manufacture and market our products, and our rights to use know-how and trade secrets. We will not intentionally infringe upon the valid intellectual property rights of others, and we will continue to assess and take actions as necessary to protect our positions. We also seek to register trademarks as a means of protecting the brand names of our products, which brand names become more important once the corresponding product or process patents have expired. We operate in regions of the world where intellectual property protection may be limited and difficult to enforce and our continued growth strategy may result in us seeking intellectual property protection in additional regions with similar challenges. We also monitor the trademarks of others and take action when our trademark rights are being infringed upon. If we are not successful in protecting or maintaining our patent, license, trademark or other intellectual property rights, or protecting our rights to commercially make, market and sell our products, our net sales, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.

Our business is exposed to risks associated with the creditworthiness of our suppliers, customers and business partners and the industries in which our suppliers, customers and business partners participate are cyclical in nature, both of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our business is exposed to risks associated with the creditworthiness of our key suppliers, customers and business partners and reductions in demand for our customers' products. These risks include the interruption of production at the facilities of our customers, the reduction, delay or cancellation of customer orders, delays in or the inability of customers to obtain financing to purchase our products, delays in or interruptions of the supply of raw materials we purchase and bankruptcy of customers, suppliers or other creditors. Furthermore, some of the industries in which our end-use customers participate, such as the automotive, electrical, construction and textile industries, are highly competitive, to a large extent driven by end-use applications, and may experience overcapacity, all of which may affect demand for and the pricing of our products. In addition, many of these industries are highly cyclical in nature, thus posing risks to us that vary throughout the year and vary according to macroeconomic factors. The occurrence of any of these events may adversely affect our cash flow, profitability and financial condition.

We may incur significant charges in the event we close or divest all or part of a manufacturing plant or facility.

We periodically assess our manufacturing operations in order to manufacture and distribute our products in the most efficient manner. Based on our assessments, we may make capital improvements to modernize certain units, move manufacturing or distribution capabilities from one plant or facility to another plant or facility, discontinue manufacturing or distributing certain products or close or divest all or part of a manufacturing plant or facility. We also have shared services agreements at several of our plants and if such agreements are terminated or revised, we would assess and potentially adjust our manufacturing operations. The closure of our Polyamide 66 (also known as PA66 or Nylon 66) and High-Performance Nylon (HPN) polymerization units at our facility in Uentrop, Germany resulted in charges during fiscal 2023 and is expected to result in charges in fiscal 2024. The closure or divestiture of all or part of a manufacturing plant or facility could result in future charges that could be significant. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

The insurance coverage that we maintain may not fully cover all operational risks.

We maintain property, business interruption, casualty and cyber/information security insurance but such insurance may not cover all of the risks associated with the hazards of our business and is subject to limitations, including deductibles and maximum liabilities covered. We may incur losses beyond the limits, or outside the coverage, of our insurance policies, including liabilities for environmental remediation. In the future, the types of insurance we obtain and the level of coverage we maintain may be inadequate or we may be unable to continue to maintain our existing insurance or obtain comparable insurance at a reasonable cost.

Risks associated with our joint ventures, including differences in views with our joint venture partners may cause them not to operate according to their business plans, which may adversely affect our results of operations.

We currently participate in a number of joint ventures, acquired interests in several additional joint ventures through the M&M Acquisition and may enter into additional joint ventures in the future. Our joint ventures require us to work cooperatively with unaffiliated third parties. Differences in views among joint venture participants may result in delayed decisions or failure to agree on major decisions. Additionally, our partners may be unable or unwilling to meet their economic or other obligations to the joint ventures, which could negatively impact them. If these risks cause the joint ventures to fail to achieve their desired operating performance, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our significant non-U.S. operations expose us to global exchange rate fluctuations that could adversely impact our profitability.

We conduct a significant portion of our operations outside the U.S. Consequently, fluctuations in currencies of other countries, especially the euro and Chinese yuan, may materially affect our operating results. Because our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars, we must translate revenues, income and expenses, as well as assets and liabilities, into U.S. dollars based on average exchange rates prevailing during the reporting period or the exchange rate at the end of that period. Therefore, increases or decreases in the value of the U.S. dollar against other major currencies will affect our net operating revenues, operating income and the cost of balance sheet items denominated in foreign currencies. Foreign exchange rates can also impact the competitiveness of products produced in certain jurisdictions and exported for sale into other jurisdictions. These changes may impact the value received for the sale of our goods versus those of our competitors.

In addition to currency translation risks, we incur a currency transaction risk whenever one of our operating subsidiaries enters into a purchase or sales transaction using a currency different from the operating subsidiary's functional currency. Given the volatility of exchange rates, particularly the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against major currencies or the currencies of large developing countries, we may not be able to manage our currency transaction and translation risks effectively.

We use financial instruments to hedge certain exposure to foreign currency fluctuations, but those hedges in most cases cover existing balance sheet exposures and not future transactional exposures. We cannot guarantee that our hedging strategies will be effective. In addition, the use of financial instruments creates counterparty settlement risk. Failure to effectively manage these risks could have an adverse impact on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to information or operational technology cybersecurity threats that could materially affect our business.

We have been and will continue to be subject to advanced and persistent threats in the areas of information and operational technology security and fraud. We rely on information and operational technology systems, including tools that utilize artificial intelligence, to conduct our business. We seek to prevent unauthorized access to our information and operational technology systems and to detect and investigate any cybersecurity incidents that may occur, however in some cases we might be unaware of a particular incident or its magnitude and effects. We may face increased information technology security and fraud risks due in part to our business efforts to digitize certain operations at our manufacturing sites to increase efficiencies and to our continued reliance on many employees working remotely part of the time, which may create additional information security vulnerabilities and/or magnify the impact of any disruption in information technology systems. Many tools and resources we use integrate or will integrate some form of artificial intelligence, which has the potential to result in bias, miscalculations, data errors, intellectual property infringement and other unintended consequences. Additionally, we may be exposed to unauthorized access to our information or operational technology systems through undetected vulnerabilities in our service providers' information systems or software. These risks may be heightened as a result of our ongoing efforts to integrate the M&M Business's technology environment with our own.

The theft, misuse or publication of our intellectual property and/or confidential business information or the compromising of our systems or networks (including through ransomware or denial-of-service attacks) could harm our competitive position, cause operational disruption (including the potential to disrupt or compromise our control of physical plant operations at our manufacturing sites), reduce the value of our investment in research and development of new products and other strategic initiatives or otherwise adversely affect our business or results of operations. To the extent that any security breach impacts operations at our manufacturing sites, we may experience production or shipping disruptions. To the extent that any security breach results in inappropriate disclosure of our employees', customers' or vendors' confidential or personally identifiable information, we may incur liability or suffer reputational damage in the marketplace as a result. We maintain cyber/information security insurance, but any losses may be beyond the limits, or outside the coverage, of our policy.

Information and operational security threats and methods of perpetrating fraud or misappropriating information are constantly evolving and becoming more complex, which increases the difficulty and expense of defending against these threats. Although we attempt to mitigate these risks by employing a number of measures, including insurance, monitoring of our systems and networks, implementation of security tools and processes, employee training, crisis simulations and maintenance of backup and protective systems, our systems, networks, products and services remain potentially vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated advanced persistent threats that may have a material effect on our business. In addition, the devotion of additional resources to the security of our information or operational technology systems in the future could significantly increase the cost of doing business or otherwise adversely impact our financial results.

Regulatory, Legal, Environmental and Tax Risks

Failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations and/or changes in applicable laws or regulations may adversely affect our business and financial results as a whole.

We are subject to extensive international, national, state, local and other laws and regulations. Failure to comply with these laws, including antitrust, anticorruption and sanctions laws, rules, regulations or court decisions, could expose us to fines, penalties and other costs. Although we have implemented policies, procedures and employee training designed to ensure compliance with these laws, rules, regulations and court decisions, there can be no assurance that our employees and business partners and other third parties acting on our behalf will comply with these laws, rules, regulations and court decisions, which could result in fines, penalties and costs and damage to our business reputation. For example, in July 2020 we announced that we had reached a final settlement of $92 million with respect to a competition law investigation by the European Commission based on certain past ethylene purchases by certain subsidiaries of the Company. Shell Chemicals Europe and another group of corporate claimants have filed claims for damages with the District Court of Amsterdam against four companies, including the Company, arising from those activities, and the first court hearing was held in late September 2023. See Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Moreover, changes in laws or regulations, including the more aggressive enforcement of such laws and regulations, such as unexpected changes in regulatory requirements (including trade compliance requirements), or changes in reporting requirements of the U.S., Canadian, Mexican, German, EU or Asian governmental agencies, could increase the cost of doing business in these regions. In addition, enforcement of environmental or other governmental policy may result in plant shut downs or significantly decreased production, such as in China on high pollution days. Any of these types of conditions, including the failure to obtain or maintain operating permits for our business, may have an effect on our business and financial results as a whole and may result in volatile current and future prices for our products and raw materials. See Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

The M&M Acquisition introduced us into a number of new geographic markets, subjecting us to additional non-U.S. laws, regulations and policies which did not previously apply to us, and increased our exposure to certain other geographic markets as well as their laws and regulations. These laws and regulations are complex, change frequently, have become more stringent over time, could increase our cost of doing business, and could result in conflicting legal requirements. The increased risk of non-compliance with non-U.S. laws, regulations and policies as a result of the M&M Acquisition could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition or strategic objectives.

Our business exposes us to potential product liability, warranty, and tort claims, and recalls, which could adversely affect our financial condition and performance.

The development, manufacture and sale of specialty chemical products by us, including products produced for the medical device, pharmaceutical, automobile, construction, appliance, cigarette and aerospace end markets, involves a risk of exposure to product liability, warranty, and tort claims, product recalls, product seizures and related adverse publicity. A product liability, warranty, or tort claim or judgment against us that is larger than those typically experienced in the regular course of business could also result in substantial and unexpected expenditures, affect consumer or customer confidence in our products, and divert management's attention from other responsibilities. Although we maintain product liability insurance, there can be no assurance that this type or the level of coverage is adequate or that we will be able to continue to maintain our existing insurance or obtain comparable insurance at a reasonable cost, if at all. A product recall or a significant partially or completely uninsured judgment against us could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Although we have standard contracting policies and controls, we may not always be able to contractually limit our exposure to third party claims should our failure to perform result in downstream supply disruptions or product recalls.

Environmental regulations and other obligations relating to environmental matters could subject us to liability for clean-ups, fines, penalties and other damages, require us to incur significant costs to modify our operations and increase our manufacturing and delivery costs.

Costs related to our compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, and potential obligations with respect to sites currently or formerly owned or operated by us, may have a negative impact on our operating results. We also have obligations related to the indemnity agreement contained in the demerger and transfer agreement between Celanese GmbH and Hoechst AG for environmental matters arising out of certain divestitures that took place prior to the demerger. See Note 13 - Environmental in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our operations are subject to extensive international, national, state, local and other laws and regulations that govern environmental, health and safety matters and that regulate the handling, manufacture, use, emission and disposal of products, materials and hazardous and non-hazardous waste. If we violate any one of those laws or regulations, we can be held liable for substantial fines and other sanctions, including limitations on our operations as a result of changes to or revocations of environmental permits involved. We could also face claims for damages from individuals or groups for alleged violations of these laws or regulations.

We also incur substantial capital and other costs to comply with environmental, health and safety requirements. Stricter environmental, safety and health laws and regulations could result in substantial additional costs and liabilities to us or limitations on our operations. Consequently, compliance with these laws and regulations may negatively affect our earnings and cash flows in a particular reporting period. See Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources for further information.

For more information on risks we face specifically related to climate change and related potential regulation, see the risk factor titled "We are subject to financial, regulatory, physical and transition risks associated with climate change or other sustainability matters as well as potential legislation, regulation and international accords to address climate change and other sustainability matters" below.

Changes in environmental, health and safety regulations in the jurisdictions where we manufacture or sell our products could lead to a decrease in demand for or significant restrictions on use and/or production of our products and raw materials.

New or revised governmental regulations, independent studies or consumer or societal perceptions relating to the effect of our products on health, safety or the environment may affect demand for our products and the cost of producing our products. In addition, products we produce, including VAM, formaldehyde and polymers derived from formaldehyde, may be classified and labeled in a manner that would adversely affect demand for such products. For example, in 2019 the EPA designated formaldehyde as a high-priority substance under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the substance is currently undergoing risk evaluation. In addition, in 2012 the International Agency for Research on Cancer ("IARC"), a research agency within the World Health Organization, classified formaldehyde as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) based on epidemiological studies linking formaldehyde exposure to nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare cancer in humans, and leukemia. In 2011, a similar conclusion was reached by the National Toxicology Program ("NTP"), a U.S. inter-agency research program. We anticipate that the results of the IARC's and the NTP's reviews will continue to be examined and considered by government regulatory agencies with responsibility for setting worker and environmental exposure standards and labeling requirements.

Other initiatives, including the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability initiative currently to be undertaken by the EU as part of the Green Deal will potentially require, or increase existing requirements for, toxicological testing and risk assessments of a wide variety of chemicals, including chemicals used or produced by us. These assessments may result in heightened concerns about the chemicals involved and additional regulatory requirements being placed on the production, handling, labeling and/or use of the subject chemicals. The new requirements may necessitate reformulation of products in order to meet customers' demands, which would be a financially burdensome process.

Such concerns and additional requirements could also increase the cost incurred by our customers to use our chemical products and otherwise limit the use of these products, which could lead to a decrease in demand for these products. Such a decrease in demand would likely have an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

We are subject to financial, regulatory, physical and transition risks associated with climate change or other sustainability matters as well as potential legislation, regulation and international accords to address climate change and other sustainability matters.

Greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions have become the subject of significant international, national, regional, state and local attention. For example, the EPA, SEC, and European Commission have promulgated or proposed extensive rules concerning reporting of GHG emissions. The European Commission has also embarked on the European Green Deal initiative with the goal of making the EU carbon neutral by 2050, which is leading to additional statutory and regulatory requirements. In addition, regulation of greenhouse gas also could occur pursuant to future treaty obligations, statutory or regulatory changes or new climate change legislation intended to reduce or mitigate the effects of GHG emissions. Compliance with such legislation, regulation and accords and the associated potential cost is complicated by the fact that various countries and regions are following different approaches and standards to the regulation of climate change.

A number of our operations are within jurisdictions that have or are developing regulatory regimes governing GHG emissions, which may lead to direct and indirect costs on our operations. Some jurisdictions have emissions reduction measures directed at the power or oil and gas sectors, which could result in higher power input costs or reduced energy availability for us. Other regulations that are being implemented or contemplated include the potential for restrictions on GHG emissions, cap and trade emissions trading systems, taxes on GHG emissions, fuel, and energy, or carbon import charges on certain products among other provisions. These may exist in addition to country and corporate-level net-zero GHG emissions pledges. These measures, if and where enacted, may significantly increase our costs of operations or require us to incur significant additional capital costs for the installation of equipment to mitigate GHG emissions for our sites' manufacturing operations.

Physical impacts of climate change, such as increased frequency and severity of hurricanes and floods and impact on sea levels, may also impact our facilities and operations and those of our key suppliers. A number of our sites are located in areas that are exposed to weather events and changing sea levels (such as the Texas Gulf Coast) and that have been impacted by hurricanes and other weather events in the past as described elsewhere in these risk factors. To the extent climate change exacerbates these threats, our operations and supply chains could experience increased levels of disruptions and added costs.

Additionally, increased social, legislative and regulatory focus on climate change and other sustainability matters as well as customer demand for responsibly manufactured products could lead to changes in the behavior of our customers or their end-customers, and could result in reduced customer demand for products made from materials that are perceived to be significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. We may fail to accurately react to these trends and refine our product offerings through innovation, or we may not be able to fully address these concerns through changes in manufacturing methods or use of more sustainable materials and processes, which could result in reduced demand for our products.

We closely monitor developments in this area, but there is significant uncertainty regarding what legislative or regulatory requirements may be put in place, which makes it impossible for us to predict the longer-term impact these measures have on our operations. However, we believe that future legislative and regulatory developments related to climate change are likely, which could materially increase operating costs in the chemical industry and thereby increase our manufacturing and delivery costs.

Our aspirations, goals, and initiatives related to sustainability, and our public statements and disclosures regarding them, expose us to risks.

We have developed and publicized, and expect to continue to establish, goals, targets, and other objectives related to sustainability matters. These include a GHG intensity reduction target and other environmental targets. Such statements reflect our current plans at the time they are made, and do not constitute a guarantee that they will be achieved. Our ability to track and meet these goals depends on future innovations and technology and the availability of accurate reporting methods. Our efforts to research, establish, accomplish, and accurately report on these goals, targets, and objectives could expose us to operational, reputational, financial, legal, and other risks. Our ability to achieve any stated goal, target, or objective is and will be subject to numerous factors and conditions, many of which are outside of our control, such as evolving regulatory or quasi-regulatory sustainability standards, the ability of suppliers to meet our sustainability and other standards, differing requirements and the pace of changes in technology.

We may face increased scrutiny from the investment community, other stakeholders, regulators, and the media related to our sustainability activities, including the goals, targets, and objectives that we announce, and our methodologies and timelines for pursuing them. If our sustainability practices do not meet investor or other stakeholder expectations and standards, which continue to evolve, our reputation, ability to attract or retain employees, and attractiveness as an investment, business partner, or as an acquirer could be negatively impacted, which could in turn adversely impact our business and results of operations. Similarly, our failure or perceived failure to pursue or fulfill our goals, targets, and objectives, to comply with ethical, environmental, or other standards, regulations, or expectations, or to satisfy various reporting standards with respect to these matters, within the timelines that we announce, or at all, could have the same negative impacts, as well as expose us to government enforcement actions and private litigation. Even if we achieve the goals, targets, and objectives we set, we may not realize all of the benefits expected at the time they were established.

Our business and financial results may be adversely affected by various legal and regulatory proceedings.

We are involved in legal and regulatory proceedings, lawsuits, claims and investigations in the normal course of business and could become subject to additional claims in the future, some of which could be material. The outcome of existing proceedings, lawsuits, claims and investigations may differ from our expectations because the outcomes of such proceedings, including regulatory matters, are often difficult to reliably predict. Various factors or developments can lead us to change current estimates of liabilities and related insurance receivables where applicable, or permit us to make such estimates for matters previously not susceptible to reasonable estimates, such as a significant judicial ruling or judgment, a significant settlement, significant regulatory developments, or changes in applicable law. A future adverse ruling, settlement, or unfavorable development could result in charges that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition in any particular period. See Note 13 - Environmental and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Changes in, or the interpretation of, tax legislation or rates throughout the world, or the resolution of tax examinations or audits, could materially impact our results.

Our future effective tax rate and related tax balance sheet attributes could be impacted by changes in, or the interpretation of, tax legislation throughout the world. The overall tax environment has made it increasingly challenging for multinational corporations to operate with certainty about taxation in many jurisdictions. For example, the European Commission has been conducting investigations focusing on whether local country tax rulings or tax legislation provide preferential tax treatment that violates EU state aid rules.

Furthermore, a number of countries where we do business, including the U.S. and many countries in the EU, have changed or are considering changes in relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations and interpretations, including changes to tax laws applicable to multinational corporations. Our future effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, expirations of tax holidays or rulings, changes in the assessment regarding the realization of deferred tax assets, or changes in tax laws and regulations or their interpretation. The increasingly complex global tax environment and related legislative developments could have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

For example, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (the "OECD"), which represents a coalition of member countries, is supporting changes to numerous long-standing tax principles through its base erosion and profit shifting initiatives, which focus on a number of issues, including (i) the shifting of profits among affiliated entities located in different tax jurisdictions and (ii) a global minimum tax of at least 15% of adjusted financial statement income, applied on a country-by-country basis, applicable to multinational groups with annual revenue of EUR750 million or more. The adoption of such changes is contingent upon the independent actions of participating countries to enact implementing domestic legislation. In December 2022, the EU member states voted unanimously to implement the 15% global minimum tax into national legislation, and other countries where we do business have either implemented or are in the process of implementing domestic legislation which will be effective starting in 2024.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 ("IRA") was enacted in the U.S. The IRA created a new book minimum tax, effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022, of 15% of adjusted consolidated GAAP pre-tax income for corporations with three-year average adjusted annual book income in excess of $1.0 billion. The IRA also created an excise tax that is generally equal to 1% of the value of any stock repurchased by us after December 31, 2022.

We are subject to the regular examination of our income tax returns by various tax authorities. Examinations in material jurisdictions or changes in laws, rules, regulations or interpretations by local taxing authorities could result in impacts to tax years open under statute or to foreign operating structures currently in place.

Our tax returns are under audit for the years 2013 through 2015 by the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. These authorities have proposed adjustments to transfer pricing and the reallocation of income between the related jurisdictions to open tax years through 2019. While we have reached resolution with the Netherlands, we are currently continuing discussions with the other taxing authorities and are evaluating all potential remedies. If this matter is resolved in a manner inconsistent with our expectations or we are unsuccessful in defending our position, our financial condition and operating results could be adversely impacted.

In addition, we are under examination in other jurisdictions for other matters for various years, including Mexico and Canada.

We cannot predict with certainty the outcome of tax examinations or audits. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations or changes in laws, rules, regulations or interpretations to determine the adequacy of our provision for taxes. It is possible the outcomes from these examinations will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results in future periods.

Risks Related to Our Human Capital

Our success depends upon our ability to attract and retain key employees and the identification and development of talent to succeed senior management.

Our success depends on our ability to attract and retain key personnel including our management team. The inability to recruit and retain talented employees or the unexpected loss of such talented employees or key personnel may adversely affect our operations. Like many companies, we have experienced in the last couple of years and continue to experience an increasingly competitive hiring environment for skilled employees at our manufacturing and other sites, which in some cases has increased, or may in the future increase, the cost of retaining or hiring talented employees, particularly in technical manufacturing roles critical to our success.

In addition, we rely on our senior management team specifically, therefore our future success depends in part on our ability to retain those members of senior management and to identify and develop talent to succeed senior management. The hiring and retention of key personnel and appropriate senior management succession planning will continue to be important to the successful implementation of our strategies.

Significant changes in pension fund investment performance or assumptions relating to pension costs may have a material effect on the valuation of pension obligations, the funded status of pension plans and our pension cost.

The cost of our pension plans is incurred over long periods of time and involves many uncertainties during those periods of time. Our funding policy for pension plans is to accumulate plan assets that, over the long run, will approximate the present value of projected benefit obligations. Our pension cost is materially affected by the discount rate used to measure pension obligations, the level and value of plan assets available to fund those obligations at the measurement date and the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. Significant changes in investment performance or a change in the portfolio mix of invested assets will likely result in corresponding increases and decreases in the valuation of plan assets and a change in the discount rate or mortality assumptions, which will likely result in an increase or decrease in the valuation of pension obligations. The combined impact of these changes will affect the reported funded status of our pension plans as well as the net periodic pension cost in the following fiscal years. In recent years, an extended duration strategy in the asset portfolio has been implemented in some plans to reduce the influence of liability volatility due to changes in interest rates. If the funded status of a pension plan declines, we may be required to make unscheduled contributions in addition to those contributions for which we have already planned. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Some of our employees are unionized, represented by workers councils or are subject to local laws that are less favorable to employers than the laws of the U.S.

As of December 31, 2023, we had 12,410 employees globally. Approximately 15% of our 4,248 U.S.-based employees are unionized. In addition, a large number of our employees are employed in countries in which employment laws provide greater bargaining or other employment rights than the laws of the U.S. Such employment rights require us to work collaboratively with the legal representatives of the employees to effect any changes to labor agreements. Most of our employees in Europe are represented by workers councils and/or unions that must approve any changes in terms and conditions of employment, including potentially salaries and benefits. They may also impede efforts to restructure our workforce. Although we believe we have a good working relationship with our employees and their legal representatives, a strike, work stoppage, or slowdown by our employees could occur, resulting in a disruption of our operations or higher ongoing labor costs.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Financing the M&M Acquisition significantly increased our indebtedness and interest expense, which could adversely affect us, decrease our business flexibility, diminish our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations or refinance our existing indebtedness when it matures and limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or the chemicals industry.

See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information about our indebtedness. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations, Note 13 - Environmental and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information about our other obligations.

We incurred approximately $11.0 billion of indebtedness to finance the M&M Acquisition, bringing our total outstanding indebtedness to $13.7 billion at December 31, 2023, compared to $14.7 billion at December 31, 2022. Also, the amount of cash required to pay interest on our increased indebtedness, and thus the demands on our cash resources, has significantly increased as a result of the indebtedness to finance the M&M Acquisition.

We have allocated, and intend to continue to allocate, capital to repay and reduce our outstanding debt using cash from operations and proceeds from asset sales or dispositions in cases where we are able to do so on favorable terms. Our ability to reduce our level of indebtedness over time in line with our strategic goals depends on a number of factors including our business performance, macroeconomic and industry conditions, commercial and financing market conditions, and other factors described in these risk factors, and our inability to achieve these objectives could delay or alter our deleveraging plan, or could negatively impact the trading prices of our securities or our credit ratings.

Our higher level of indebtedness and other liabilities could have other important consequences, including:

• Increasing our vulnerability to general economic and industry conditions, including exacerbating the impact of any adverse business effects that could impact our ability to repay amounts due under existing senior credit agreements (the "Credit Agreements") or the indentures (the "Indentures") governing our outstanding senior unsecured notes (collectively, the "Senior Notes");
• Requiring a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on indebtedness and amounts payable in connection with the satisfaction of our other liabilities, therefore reducing our ability to use our cash flow to fund operations, capital expenditures and future business opportunities or pay dividends on our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share ("Common Stock");
• Reducing our flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions;
• Exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates as certain of our borrowings are at variable rates of interest;
• Exposing us to the risk of changes in currency exchange rates as certain of our borrowings are denominated in foreign currencies; and
• Limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, product development, debt service requirements, acquisitions and general corporate or other purposes.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets on unfavorable terms, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service and other obligations. In the absence of such operating results and resources, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. We may not be able to complete those dispositions or to obtain the proceeds that we could realize from them, and these proceeds may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

Restrictive covenants in our debt agreements may limit our ability to engage in certain transactions and may diminish our ability to make payments on our indebtedness or pay dividends.

The Credit Agreements, the Indentures and the Receivables Purchase Agreement governing our receivables securitization facility each contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. The Credit Agreements contain covenants including, but not limited to, restrictions on our and certain of our subsidiaries' ability to incur additional debt; incur liens securing debt; merge or consolidate with any other person; and sell, assign, transfer, lease, convey or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of the Issuer's assets or the assets of certain subsidiaries. Additionally, the Credit Agreements require the maintenance of certain financial ratios. The Indentures contain covenants including, but not limited to, restrictions on our and certain of our subsidiaries' ability to incur liens securing debt; merge or consolidate with any other person; and sell, assign, transfer, lease, convey or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of the Issuer's assets or the assets of certain subsidiaries.

The Receivables Purchase Agreement also contains covenants including, but not limited to, restrictions on CE Receivables LLC's, a wholly-owned, "bankruptcy remote" special purpose subsidiary of the Company, and certain other Company subsidiaries' ability to incur indebtedness; grant liens on assets; merge, consolidate, or sell assets; pay dividends or make other restricted payments; make investments; prepay or modify certain indebtedness; or engage in other businesses.

Such restrictions in the instruments governing our debt obligations could result in us having to obtain the consent of our lenders and holders of the Senior Notes in order to take certain actions. Disruptions in credit markets may prevent us from obtaining or make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain such consents. Our ability to expand our business or to address declines in our business may be limited if we are unable to obtain such consents.

A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default, which, if not cured or waived, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, a default under any of the Credit Agreements could permit lenders to accelerate the maturity of our indebtedness under such Credit Agreement and to terminate any commitments to lend. If the lenders under any Credit Agreement accelerate the repayment of such indebtedness, we may not have sufficient liquidity to repay such amounts or our other indebtedness, including the Senior Notes. In such event, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation.

Our credit ratings are subject to change and may not reflect all risks of investments in our securities.

Our credit ratings are an assessment by rating agencies of our ability to pay our debts when due. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit ratings will generally affect the market value of our securities. These credit ratings may not reflect the potential impact of risks relating to our securities. Agency ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, and may be revised or withdrawn at any time by the issuing organization. Each agency's rating should be evaluated independently of any other agency's rating. Any actual or anticipated negative changes or downgrades in our credit ratings or ratings outlook or watch, including any announcement that our ratings are under review for a downgrade, could increase our corporate borrowing costs and affect the market value of our securities.

Celanese and Celanese U.S. are holding companies and depend on subsidiaries to satisfy their obligations under the Senior Notes and the guarantee of Celanese U.S.'s obligations under the Senior Notes and the Credit Agreements by Celanese.

As holding companies, Celanese and Celanese U.S. conduct substantially all of their operations through their subsidiaries, which own substantially all of our consolidated assets. Consequently, the principal source of cash to pay Celanese and Celanese U.S.'s obligations, including obligations under the Senior Notes and the guarantee of Celanese U.S.'s obligations under the Credit Agreements and the Indentures by Celanese, is the cash that our subsidiaries generate from their operations. We cannot assure that our subsidiaries will be able to, or be permitted to, make distributions to enable Celanese U.S. and/or Celanese to make payments in respect of their obligations. Each of our subsidiaries is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, applicable country or state laws, regulatory limitations and terms of our debt instruments may limit our subsidiaries' ability to distribute cash to Celanese U.S. and Celanese. In the event Celanese U.S. and/or Celanese do not receive distributions from our subsidiaries, Celanese U.S. and/or Celanese may be unable to make required payments on the indebtedness under the Credit Agreements, the Indentures, the guarantee of Celanese U.S.'s obligations under the Credit Agreements and the Indentures by Celanese, or our other indebtedness.

Cybersecurity Risk Management and Oversight

Strategy for Management of Cybersecurity Risk

Cybersecurity protection and data privacy are important to maintaining our proprietary information and the trust of our customers, suppliers and employees, and we recognize the importance of working to secure our data and information systems from potential cybersecurity and data privacy incidents. We are a large global manufacturer with sites around the world, and we identify and assess our cybersecurity risk through that lens. Securing the execution and control of our manufacturing operations, to the extent implemented through digital technology, is a primary area of focus. We also face risks encountered by substantially all large global companies such as the risks of intellectual property and information being compromised, fraud and violation of privacy or security laws.

We identify, assess, manage and mitigate cybersecurity risk through a risk management program based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework that is regularly assessed by a third party cybersecurity consultant. As part of our processes, we perform routine scanning and have an established vulnerability management program and patching policy. We have in our learning management system a comprehensive cybersecurity awareness course that is mandatory for all employees with computers and covers key topics such as identifying workplace cybersecurity hazards and attacks, and our separate CyberSAFE and Data Privacy intranets provide content to help employees identify and avoid cybersecurity and data privacy risks. We also have data privacy educational tools, policies and procedures to help employees prevent, recognize and report data privacy incidents. We perform penetration tests and vulnerability and breach assessments with third-party advisors to support our compliance with laws and regulations including those applicable to chemical manufacturing sites. We also have a third-party risk management program with a formal approach to evaluating and managing risks associated with third-party information technology solutions and software. We maintain cyber/information security insurance to protect against certain expenses and liabilities that may be incurred in the event of an incident.

Cybersecurity risk is managed as part of our broader enterprise risk management program. Specifically, a risk management workstream focused on our information technology function (including cybersecurity) is designed to assess, identify and manage cybersecurity-related risks and mitigation measures.

Our cybersecurity risk program also includes a documented incident response plan to be used in the event of a cybersecurity incident. The incident response plan provides for certain responses based on various factors of a cybersecurity incident.

Governance and Oversight

Primary responsibility for assessing and managing risks from cybersecurity threats resides with our management team, including a Chief Information Officer who has nearly 30 years of information technology experience including leadership roles at multiple large, global and/or publicly-traded companies, and a Chief Information Security Officer who has over 30 years of experience in cybersecurity with large international publicly-traded companies and who holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification. These individuals, together with others on their teams, are informed about the monitoring, prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of cybersecurity incidents through their management of and participation in the cybersecurity risk management policies, processes and operations discussed above. They regularly report to and consult with the executive leadership team on such matters.

At the Board level, the full Board and its Environment, Health, Safety, Quality and Public Policy ("EHSQPP") Committee (which oversees many of our operational risks related to manufacturing) are both involved in oversight of the Company's management of cybersecurity risk. Management, including the Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, updates our EHSQPP Committee and full Board on cybersecurity matters quarterly. We also have processes by which certain cybersecurity incidents are escalated within the Company and, where appropriate, reported in a timely manner to the Board.

Additional Information

For additional information on the risks we face related to cyber and information security threats, please see the risk factors in Item 1A. Risk Factors titled "Production at our manufacturing facilities, or at our suppliers', could be disrupted for a variety of reasons, which could prevent us from producing enough of our products to maintain our sales and satisfy our customers' demands" on page 19 and "We are subject to information or operational technology cybersecurity threats that could materially affect our business" on page 22.

Description of Property

Our corporate headquarters is located in Irving, Texas and we also have administrative offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Asturias, Spain; Budapest, Hungary; Hyderabad, India; Kunshan, China; Mexico City, Mexico; Meyrin, Switzerland; Nanjing, China; Shanghai, China; and Sulzbach, Germany. We own or lease numerous production and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. We also own or lease other properties, including office buildings, warehouses, pipelines, research and development facilities and sales offices. We continuously review and evaluate our facilities as a part of our strategy to optimize our business portfolio. The following table sets forth our principal production and other facilities throughout the world as of December 31, 2023. These facilities are well-maintained, in good operating condition, are suitable and adequate for their use and have sufficient capacity for our current needs and expected near-term growth.

(1) Certain geographic locations may contain sites used by multiple segments.

We have also entered into strategic ventures with partners in various locations around the world. See Item 1. Business for a discussion of our investments in affiliates and their respective site locations.

The Company is involved in legal and regulatory proceedings, lawsuits, claims and investigations incidental to the normal conduct of its business, relating to such matters as product liability, land disputes, insurance coverage disputes, contracts, employment, antitrust and competition, intellectual property, personal injury and other actions in tort, workers' compensation, chemical exposure, asbestos exposure, taxes, trade compliance, acquisitions and divestitures, claims of legacy shareholders, past waste disposal practices and release of chemicals into the environment. The Company is actively defending those matters where it is named as a defendant. Due to the inherent subjectivity of assessments and unpredictability of outcomes of legal proceedings, the Company's litigation accruals and estimates of possible loss or range of possible loss may not represent the ultimate loss to the Company from legal proceedings. See Note 13 - Environmental and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for a discussion of material environmental matters and material commitments and contingencies related to legal and regulatory proceedings. See Item 1A. Risk Factors for certain risk factors relating to these legal proceedings.

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Annual Report"), the term "Celanese" refers to Celanese Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and not its subsidiaries. The terms the "Company," "we," "our" and "us," refer to Celanese and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. The term "Celanese U.S." refers to the Company's subsidiary, Celanese US Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and not its subsidiaries.

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes to the consolidated financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP").

Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements contained in this section and other parts of this Annual Report involve both risk and uncertainty. Several important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these statements. Many of these statements are macroeconomic in nature and are, therefore, beyond the control of management. See "Forward-Looking Statements" below.

Forward-Looking Statements

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") and other parts of this Annual Report contain certain forward-looking statements and information relating to us that are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, us. Generally, words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "may," "can," "could," "might," and "will," and similar expressions, as they relate to us are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views and beliefs with respect to future events at the time that the statements are made, are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. See "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" at the beginning of this Annual Report for further discussion. All forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report are made as of the date hereof, and the risk that actual results will differ materially from expectations expressed in this Annual Report will increase with the passage of time. We undertake no obligation, and disclaim any duty, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in our expectations or otherwise.

Risk Factors

Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report also contains a description of certain risk factors that you should consider which could significantly affect our financial results. In addition, the following factors, among others, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements:

• changes in general economic, business, political and regulatory conditions in the countries or regions in which we operate;
• the length and depth of product and industry business cycles particularly in the automotive, electrical, textiles, electronics and construction industries;
• volatility or changes in the price and availability of raw materials and energy, particularly changes in the demand for, supply of, and market prices of ethylene, methanol, natural gas, wood pulp and fuel oil and the prices for electricity and other energy sources;
• the ability to pass increases in raw material prices, logistics costs and other costs on to customers or otherwise improve margins through price increases;
• the possibility that we will not be able to timely or effectively continue to integrate the Mobility & Materials business (the "M&M Business") we acquired from DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (the "M&M Acquisition") in order to realize the anticipated benefits of the M&M Acquisition, including synergies and growth opportunities, whether as a result of difficulties arising from the operation of the M&M Business or other unanticipated delays, costs, inefficiencies or liabilities;
• increased commercial, legal or regulatory complexity of entering into, or expanding our exposure to, certain end markets and geographies;
• risks in the global economy and equity and credit markets and their potential impact on our ability to pay down debt in the future and/or refinance at suitable rates, in a timely manner, or at all;
• risks and costs associated with increased leverage from the M&M Acquisition, including increased interest expense and potential reduction of business and strategic flexibility;
• the ability to maintain plant utilization rates and to implement planned capacity additions, expansions and maintenance;
• the ability to reduce or maintain current levels of production costs and to improve productivity by implementing technological improvements to existing plants;
• increased price competition and the introduction of competing products by other companies;
• the ability to identify desirable potential acquisition or divestiture opportunities and to complete such transactions, including obtaining regulatory approvals, consistent with our strategy;
• market acceptance of our products and technology;
• compliance and other costs and potential disruption or interruption of production or operations due to accidents, interruptions in sources of raw materials, transportation, logistics or supply chain disruptions, cybersecurity incidents, terrorism or political unrest, public health crises (including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic), or other unforeseen events or delays in construction or operation of facilities, including as a result of geopolitical conditions, the direct or indirect consequences of acts of war or conflict (such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the Israel-Hamas conflict) or terrorist incidents or as a result of weather, natural disasters, or other crises;
• the ability to obtain governmental approvals and to construct facilities on terms and schedules acceptable to us;
• changes in applicable tariffs, duties and trade agreements, tax rates or legislation throughout the world including, but not limited to, adjustments, changes in estimates or interpretations or the resolution of tax examinations or audits that may impact recorded or future tax impacts and potential regulatory and legislative tax developments in the United States and other jurisdictions;
• changes in the degree of intellectual property and other legal protection afforded to our products or technologies, or the theft of such intellectual property;
• potential liability for remedial actions and increased costs under existing or future environmental, health and safety regulations, including those relating to climate change or other sustainability matters;
• potential liability resulting from pending or future claims or litigation, including investigations or enforcement actions, or from changes in the laws, regulations or policies of governments or other governmental activities, in the countries in which we operate;
• changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates; and
• various other factors, both referenced and not referenced in this Annual Report.

Many of these factors are macroeconomic in nature and are, therefore, beyond our control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, affect us in ways or to an extent that we currently do not expect or consider to be significant, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially from those described in this Annual Report as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended, planned or projected. We neither intend nor assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Results of Operations

Financial Highlights

(In $ millions, except percentages)

(1) Defined as Operating profit (loss) divided by Net sales.

37

Factors Affecting Business Segment Net Sales

The percentage increase (decrease) in Net sales attributable to each of the factors indicated for each of our business segments is as follows:

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Consolidated Results

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Net sales increased $1.3 billion, or 13%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• higher volume, primarily in our Engineered Materials segment related to the M&M Acquisition and the KEPCO restructuring (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information) and also in our Acetyl Chain segment due to increased demand for most of our products in Asia;

partially offset by:

• lower pricing, primarily in our Acetyl Chain segment as market and pricing conditions reverted from increased levels in the prior year and also in our Engineered Materials segment due to decreased energy surcharges, market considerations, and an unfavorable product mix; and
• lower volume in our Acetyl Chain segment due to decreased demand for vinyl acetate monomer ("VAM"), acid and emulsion polymers in the Western Hemisphere.

Operating profit increased $309 million, or 22%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• higher Net sales in our Engineered Materials segment;
• a gain of $515 million in our Engineered Materials segment recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information); and
• lower raw material and sourcing costs in our Acetyl Chain segment, primarily for ethylene, methanol and acid;

partially offset by:

• higher raw material costs and spending in our Engineered Materials segment as a result of additional production capacity gained through the M&M Acquisition; and
• lower Net sales in our Acetyl Chain segment.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee expense increased $86 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to higher interest costs of $66 million and lower expected return on plan assets of $34 million, partially offset by a decrease in recognized actuarial loss of $15 million primarily as a result of a decrease in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 4.9% to 4.5%. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our effective income tax benefit rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 was 67% compared to 34% for the year ended 2022. The higher effective income tax benefit rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 was primarily due to the relocation of certain intangible assets to better align with the acquired M&M foreign operations, the realignment of our European headquarters and principal operations to Switzerland to achieve operational efficiencies, the release of valuation allowances on U.S. foreign tax credit carryforwards, and the excess of the U.S. GAAP gain over the tax gain from the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, can be found in Part II - Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Reports for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

Business Segments

Engineered Materials

(In $ millions, except percentages)

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Net sales increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• higher volume, primarily related to the M&M Acquisition and the KEPCO restructuring (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

partially offset by:

• lower pricing for most of our products, primarily due to decreased energy surcharges, market considerations, and an unfavorable product mix, particularly in Asia and Europe.

Operating profit increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• higher Net sales; and
• a gain of $515 million recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

partially offset by:

• higher raw material costs as a result of additional production capacity gained through the M&M Acquisition; and
• higher spending of $558 million as a result of the M&M Acquisition, which includes selling and administrative, distribution and operating costs.

Equity in net earnings (loss) of affiliates decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• losses from our DuPont Teijin Films strategic affiliates due to restructuring; and
• a decrease in equity investment in earnings of $35 million from our Ibn Sina strategic affiliate, primarily as a result of reduced oil prices.

Depreciation and amortization, which is included in Operating profit, increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily as a result of the M&M Acquisition.

Acetyl Chain

(In $ millions, except percentages)

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Net sales decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• lower pricing for most of our products, primarily VAM, acid and emulsion polymers, as market and pricing conditions reverted from increased levels in the prior year particularly in Asia and Europe; and
• lower volume due to decreased demand for VAM, acid and emulsion polymers in the Western Hemisphere;

partially offset by:

• higher pricing for acetate tow; and
• higher volume due to increased demand for most of our products, primarily in Asia.

Operating profit decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• lower Net sales;

partially offset by:

• lower raw material and sourcing costs, primarily for ethylene, methanol and acid.

Other Activities

(In $ millions, except percentages)

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Operating loss increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• higher functional spending of $106 million, primarily related to additional sites and employees gained through the M&M Acquisition;

partially offset by:

• lower merger and acquisition project spending of $66 million; and
• a favorable currency impact of $33 million.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee expense increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

• higher interest costs of $66 million and lower expected return on plan assets of $34 million, partially offset by a decrease in recognized actuarial loss of $15 million primarily as a result of a decrease in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 4.9% to 4.5%. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our primary sources of liquidity are cash generated from operations, available cash and cash equivalents, dividends from our portfolio of strategic investments and available borrowings under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2023, we have $1.75 billion available for borrowing under our senior U.S. unsecured revolving credit facility and $34 million available for borrowing under our separate China Revolving Credit Facility (defined below), if required, in meeting our working capital needs and other contractual obligations. In addition, we held cash and cash equivalents of $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2023. We are actively managing our business to maintain cash flow, and we believe that liquidity from the above-referenced sources will be sufficient to meet our operational and capital investment needs and financial obligations for the foreseeable future.

On October 31, 2023, we announced the planned closure of our Polyamide 66 ("PA66") and High-Performance Nylon ("HPN") polymerization units at our facility in Uentrop, Germany to optimize production costs across our global network. These operations are included in the Engineered Materials segment and we expect to complete the closure in 2024. We expect to incur additional exit and shutdown costs related to the closure of the PA66 and HPN polymerization units in Uentrop, Germany of approximately $70 million in 2024, inclusive of estimated employee termination costs.

On September 27, 2023, we formed a food ingredients joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui") under the name Nutrinova. We contributed receivables, inventory, property, plant and equipment, certain other assets, liabilities, technology and employees of our food ingredients business while retaining a 30% interest in the joint venture. Mitsui acquired the remaining 70% interest in the food ingredients business for a purchase price of $503 million, subject to transaction adjustments. We accounted for our interest in the joint venture as an equity method investment, and our portion of the results will continue to be included in the Engineered Materials segment. For further information regarding the food ingredients joint venture, see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

On November 1, 2022, we acquired a majority of the M&M Business for a purchase price of $11.0 billion, subject to transaction adjustments, in an all-cash transaction. For further information regarding the acquisition and related financing transactions, see Debt and Other Obligations in this Liquidity and Capital Resources and Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our incurrence of debt to finance the purchase price for the M&M Acquisition has increased our leverage and our ratio of indebtedness to consolidated EBITDA as set forth in our senior unsecured credit facilities. We believe that cash flows from our operations, together with synergy opportunities from the M&M Acquisition and cost reduction initiatives, will support our deleveraging efforts over the next few years. In furtherance of these deleveraging efforts, we have paused our share repurchase program and are in the process of evaluating additional cash generation opportunities which may also include, in addition to the food ingredients joint venture described above, additional opportunistic dispositions or monetization of other product or business lines or other assets. We are committed to rapid deleveraging and to maintaining our investment grade debt rating.

While our contractual obligations, commitments and debt service requirements over the next several years are significant, we continue to believe we will have available resources to meet our liquidity requirements, including debt service, for the next twelve months. If our cash flow from operations is insufficient to fund our debt service and other obligations, we may be required to use other means available to us such as increasing our borrowings, reducing or delaying capital expenditures, seeking additional capital or seeking to restructure or refinance our indebtedness. There can be no assurance, however, that we will continue to generate cash flows at or above current levels.

Total capital expenditures were $568 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. We continue to prioritize projects that drive growth and productivity in the near term and expect total capital expenditures to be approximately $400 million in 2024, primarily due to certain investments in growth opportunities and productivity improvements. In Engineered Materials, at our Nanjing, China facility, our expansions of (1) the compounding plant and (2) the new liquid crystal polymer ("LCP") plant are on schedule and in construction, and at our Bishop, Texas facility, our debottleneck of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene ("UHMW-PE") unit is on schedule and in detailed engineering design/construction. Our energy optimization productivity project at our polyoxymethylene ("POM") unit in Frankfurt, Germany is in detailed engineering design. In the Acetyl Chain, our planned expansion of our acetic acid unit at Clear Lake, Texas is on track to be commissioned and started in the first quarter of 2024. The other major projects that support the Acetyl Chain are in various stages of construction or commissioning and on schedule. These projects include our planned expansions of (1) our vinyl acetate ethylene ("VAE") emulsions units in Nanjing, China, and (2) our VAE emulsion plant in Frankfurt, Germany. The sustainable production of methanol ("MeOH") through carbon capture utilization at our Fairway joint venture MeOH unit in Clear Lake, Texas, using captured carbon dioxide as feedstock, was successfully commissioned and started in December 2023. The announced expansion of our vinyl acetate monomer ("VAM") plant in Bay City, Texas is on temporary hold. We continue to see the incremental capacity from investments made in recent years strengthen the growth and reliability of our manufacturing network reliability to best serve our customers.

We did not repurchase any Common Stock during the year ended December 31, 2023.

On a stand-alone basis, Celanese and its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, Celanese U.S., have no independent external operations of their own. Accordingly, they generally depend on the cash flow of their subsidiaries and their ability to pay dividends and make other distributions to Celanese and Celanese U.S. in order to meet their obligations, including their obligations under senior credit facilities and senior notes, and to pay dividends on our Common Stock.

We are subject to capital controls and exchange restrictions imposed by the local governments in certain jurisdictions where we operate, such as China, South Korea, India and Indonesia. Capital controls impose limitations on our ability to exchange currencies, repatriate earnings or capital, lend via intercompany loans or create cross-border cash pooling arrangements. Our largest exposure to a country with capital controls is in China. Pursuant to applicable regulations, foreign-invested enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, the Chinese government imposes certain currency exchange controls on cash transfers out of China, puts certain limitations on duration, purpose and amount of intercompany loans, and restricts cross-border cash pooling. While it is possible that future tightening of these restrictions or application of new similar restrictions could impact us, these limitations do not currently restrict our operations.

We remain in compliance with the covenants in the existing Global Credit Agreements (defined below, and as amended to date) and expect to remain in compliance based on our current expectation of future results of operations and planned cash generation activities. If the actual future results of our operations and cash generation activities differ materially from these expectations, we may be required to seek an amendment to or waiver of any impacted covenants, which may increase our borrowing costs under the existing Global Credit Agreements.

Cash Flows

Cash and cash equivalents increased $297 million to $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2023, $1.5 billion of the $1.8 billion of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we have incurred a prior year charge associated with the deemed repatriation of previously unremitted foreign earnings, including foreign held cash. These funds are largely accessible without additional material tax consequences, if needed in the U.S., to fund operations. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

• Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities increased $80 million to $1.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $1.8 billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to:

• favorable trade working capital of $642 million, primarily related to inventory reduction due to aligning inventory and production levels to demand and lower raw materials and inventory costs, and the timing of settlement of trade payables and collections of trade receivables during the year ended December 31, 2023; and
• cash receipts of non-trade receivables of $346 million, primarily related to the receivable balances arising from the M&M Acquisition and other transaction activities;

partially offset by:

• an increase in cash interest paid of $639 million related primarily to the debt incurred to finance the M&M Acquisition; and
• a decrease in earnings performance, net of the gain recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information).
• Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities decreased $11.0 billion to $134 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $11.1 billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to:

• a cash outflow of $10.6 billion related to the M&M Acquisition in November 2022, which did not recur in the current year. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information; and
• a cash inflow of $461 million related to the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information).
• Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities increased $11.7 billion to $1.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $10.3 billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to:

• a decrease in net proceeds of long-term debt, primarily due to the Tender Offer (defined below) of $2.25 billion, payment in full of the 3-year Term Loans (defined below) of $750 million, repayment at maturity of the 1.125% senior unsecured notes during the year ended December 31, 2023, and issuance of the Acquisition Notes (defined below), borrowings under the 3-year and 5-year Term Loans (defined below) during the year ended December 31, 2022 (see Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information), which did not recur in the current year; and
• an increase in net payments on short-term debt, primarily as a result of payments on our revolving credit facilities and payment in full of the 364-day Term Loans (defined below);

partially offset by:

• an increase in net proceeds of long-term debt, primarily due to the 2023 Offering (defined below) of $3.0 billion in principal amount during the year ended December 31, 2023 and repayment at maturity of the 4.625% senior unsecured notes during the year ended December 31, 2022; and
• a decrease in net payments on short-term debt, primarily due to borrowings on our revolving credit facilities and China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement (defined below) during the year ended December 31, 2023 and borrowing under the senior unsecured revolving credit facility related to the M&M Acquisition in November 2022.

In addition, exchange rates had an unfavorable impact of $12 million on cash and cash equivalents and a favorable impact of $4 million on cash and cash equivalents for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Debt and Other Obligations

• Senior Credit Facilities

In March 2022, we entered into a term loan credit agreement (the "March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement"), pursuant to which lenders provided a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 364 days from issuance in an amount equal to $500 million (the "364-day Term Loans") and a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 5 years from issuance in an amount equal to $1.0 billion (the "5-year Term Loans"). In September 2022, we entered into an additional term loan credit agreement (the "September 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement" and, together with the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement, the "U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreements"), pursuant to which lenders have provided delayed-draw term loans due 3 years from issuance in an amount equal to $750 million (the "3-year Term Loans" and collectively with the 364-day Term Loans and the 5-year Term Loans, the "U.S. Term Loan Facility"). The U.S. Term Loan Facility was fully drawn during the three months ended December 31, 2022. The 364-day Term Loans and 3-year Term Loans have been fully repaid.

Also in March 2022, we entered into a new revolving credit agreement (the "U.S. Revolving Credit Agreement" and, together with the U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreements the "U.S. Credit Agreements") consisting of a $1.75 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (with a letter of credit sublimit), maturing in 2027. The proceeds of a $365 million borrowing under the new senior unsecured revolving credit facility were used to repay and terminate our then-existing revolving credit facility.

On February 21, 2023 and February 16, 2024, we amended certain covenants in the U.S. Credit Agreements, including financial ratio maintenance covenants.

On August 9, 2023, we amended certain covenants in the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement to permit refinancing certain senior notes without requiring a mandatory prepayment under the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement.

The March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement and the U.S. Revolving Credit Agreement are, and the September 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement was, guaranteed by Celanese, Celanese U.S. and domestic subsidiaries together representing substantially all of the Company's U.S. assets and business operations (the "Subsidiary Guarantors").

On January 4, 2023, Celanese (Shanghai) International Trading Co., Ltd ("CSIT"), a fully consolidated subsidiary, entered into a restatement of an existing credit facility agreement (the "China Revolving Credit Agreement") to upsize and modify the facility thereunder to consist of an aggregate CNY1.75 billion uncommitted senior unsecured revolving credit facility available under two tranches (with overdraft, bank guarantee and documentary credit sublimits) (the "China Revolving Credit Facility"). Obligations bear interest at certain fixed and floating rates. The China Revolving Credit Agreement is guaranteed by Celanese U.S.

On January 6, 2023, CSIT entered into a senior unsecured working capital loan contract for CNY800 million (the "China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement," together with the China Revolving Credit Agreement, the "China Credit Agreements," and the China Credit Agreements together with the U.S. Credit Agreements, the "Global Credit Agreements"), payable 12 months from withdrawal date and bearing interest at 0.5% less than certain interbank rates. The loan under the China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement was fully drawn on January 10, 2023 and was supported by a letter of comfort from us. We expect the China Credit Agreements will facilitate our efficient repatriation of cash to the U.S. to repay debt and effectively redomicile a portion of our U.S. debt to China at a lower average interest rate.

• Senior Notes

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), as amended, as follows (collectively, the "Senior Notes"):

(In millions)

The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. and are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Celanese and the Subsidiary Guarantors. Celanese U.S. may redeem some or all of each of the Senior Notes, prior to their respective maturity dates, at a redemption price of 100% of the principal amount, plus a "make-whole" premium as specified in the applicable indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date.

In July 2022, Celanese U.S. completed an offering of $7.5 billion aggregate principal amount of notes of various maturities in a public offering registered under the Securities Act (the "Acquisition USD Notes"). Also in July 2022, Celanese U.S. completed an offering of €1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of euro-denominated senior unsecured notes in a public offering registered under the Securities Act (collectively, the "Acquisition Euro Notes" and together with the Acquisition USD Notes, the "Acquisition Notes"). Fees and expenses of the offering of the Acquisition Notes, inclusive of underwriting discounts, were $65 million. Net proceeds from the sale of the Acquisition Notes were used to fund the purchase price for the M&M Acquisition, with any remaining proceeds being used for general corporate purposes.

The entry into the U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreements and the offerings of the Acquisition Notes reduced availability under the Bridge Facility to zero, and we terminated the Bridge Facility. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we paid $66 million in fees related to the Bridge Facility commitment, amortizing these fees to interest expense.

On August 24, 2023, Celanese U.S. completed an offering of $3.0 billion aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes of various maturities in a public offering registered under the Securities Act (the "2023 Offering"). Deferred financing costs related to the 2023 Offering, including underwriting discounts, were $26 million.

On August 25, 2023, Celanese U.S. completed a cash tender offer for $2.25 billion in aggregate principal amount (the "Tender Offer") as follows:

The net proceeds from the 2023 Offering were used (i) to fund the Tender Offer and (ii) for the repayment of other outstanding indebtedness, including the payment in full of the 364-day Term Loans and the 3-year Term Loans.

• Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility

On June 1, 2023, we entered into an amendment to the amended and restated receivables purchase agreement under our U.S. accounts receivable purchasing facility among certain of our subsidiaries, our wholly-owned, "bankruptcy remote" special purpose subsidiary ("SPE") and certain global financial institutions ("Purchasers"). We de-recognized $1.4 billion and $1.1 billion of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and collected $1.3 billion and $1.1 billion of accounts receivable sold under this agreement during the same periods. Unsold U.S. accounts receivable of $109 million were pledged by the SPE as collateral to the Purchasers as of December 31, 2023.

• Factoring and Discounting Agreements

We have factoring agreements in Europe and Singapore with financial institutions. We de-recognized $423 million and $320 million of accounts receivable under these factoring agreements for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and collected $407 million and $325 million of accounts receivable sold under these factoring agreements during the same periods.

In March 2021, we entered into a letter of credit discounting agreement in Singapore with a financial institution. We de-recognized $8 million and $50 million of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

On December 15, 2023, we entered into a Master Discounting Agreement (the "Master Discounting Agreement") with a financial institution in China to discount, on a non-recourse basis, banker's acceptance drafts ("BADs"), classified as accounts receivable. We received $45 million from the accounts receivable transferred under the Master Discounting Agreement as of December 31, 2023. The impacts of discounting are not material to the Company's results of operations, cash flows or financial position.

Our material financing arrangements contain customary covenants, including the maintenance of certain financial ratios, events of default and change of control provisions. Failure to comply with these covenants, or the occurrence of any other event of default, could result in acceleration of the borrowings and other financial obligations. We are in compliance with all of the covenants related to our debt agreements as of December 31, 2023. On February 21, 2023 and February 16, 2024, we amended certain covenants, including the financial ratio covenant, included in the U.S. Credit Agreements.

See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Guarantor Financial Information

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (collectively, the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. ("Issuer") and are guaranteed by Celanese Corporation ("Parent Guarantor") and the Subsidiary Guarantors (collectively the "Obligor Group"). See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information. The Issuer and Subsidiary Guarantors are 100% owned subsidiaries of the Parent Guarantor. The Subsidiary Guarantors are listed in Exhibit 22.1 to this Annual Report.

The Parent Guarantor and the Subsidiary Guarantors have guaranteed the Senior Notes on a full and unconditional, joint and several, senior unsecured basis. The guarantees are subject to certain customary release provisions, including that a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its respective guarantee in specified circumstances, including (i) the sale or transfer of all of its assets or capital stock; (ii) its merger or consolidation with, or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets to, another person; or (iii) its ceasing to be a majority-owned subsidiary of the Issuer in connection with any sale of its capital stock or other transaction. Additionally, a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its guarantee of the Senior Notes at such time that it ceases to guarantee the Issuer's obligations under the existing U.S. Credit Agreements (subject to the satisfaction of customary document delivery requirements). The obligations of the Subsidiary Guarantors under their guarantees are limited as necessary to prevent such guarantees from constituting a fraudulent conveyance or fraudulent transfer under applicable law.

The Parent Guarantor and the Issuer are holding companies that conduct substantially all of their operations through their subsidiaries, which own substantially all of our consolidated assets. The Parent Guarantor holds the stock of its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, the Issuer, but has no material consolidated assets. The principal source of cash to pay the Parent Guarantor's and the Issuer's obligations, including obligations under the Senior Notes and the guarantee of the Issuer's obligations under the existing U.S. Credit Agreements, is the cash that our subsidiaries generate from their operations. Each of the Subsidiary Guarantors and our non-guarantor subsidiaries is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, applicable country or state laws, regulatory limitations and terms of other debt instruments may limit our subsidiaries' ability to distribute cash to the Issuer and the Parent Guarantor.

For cash management purposes, we transfer cash among the Parent Guarantor, Issuer, Subsidiary Guarantors and non-guarantors through intercompany financing arrangements, contributions or declaration of dividends between the respective parent and its subsidiaries. While the non-guarantor subsidiaries do not guarantee the Issuer's obligations under our outstanding debt, the transfer of cash under these activities facilitates the ability of the recipient to make specified third-party payments for principal and interest on the Senior Notes, the existing U.S. Credit Agreements, other outstanding debt, Common Stock dividends and Common Stock repurchases.

The summarized financial information of the Obligor Group is presented below on a combined basis after the elimination of: (i) intercompany transactions among such entities and (ii) equity in earnings from and investments in the non-guarantor subsidiaries. Transactions with, and amounts due to or from, non-guarantor subsidiaries and affiliates are separately disclosed.

Share Capital

On February 7, 2024, we declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.70 per share on our Common Stock amounting to approximately $76 million. The cash dividend will be paid on March 5, 2024 to holders of record as of February 20, 2024.

Our Board of Directors has authorized the aggregate repurchase of $6.9 billion of our Common Stock since February 2008. These authorizations give management discretion in determining the timing and conditions under which shares may be repurchased. This repurchase program does not have an expiration date. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we did not repurchase any shares of our Common Stock. As of December 31, 2023, we had $1.1 billion remaining under authorizations by our Board of Directors.

See Note 14 - Shareholders' Equity in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Contractual Obligations, Guarantees and Commitments

We calculated $3.3 billion of all future interest payments on debt and other obligations using the rate in effect on December 31, 2023 and $495 million of all future pension and other postretirement funding obligations. We have directly guaranteed various debt obligations under agreements with third parties related to certain equity affiliates. As of December 31, 2023, we have directly guaranteed $145 million and €31 million of such obligations.

We have not entered into any material off-balance sheet arrangements.

In the accompanying consolidated financial statements, see Note 10 - Current Other Liabilities for current asset retirement obligations, Note 11 - Debt for a description of the guarantees under our Senior Notes and Credit Agreement, Note 12 - Benefit Obligations for a description of the pension and other postretirement funding obligations, Note 13 - Environmental for a description of environmental obligations, Note 15 - Income Taxes for a description of uncertain tax positions, Note 16 - Leases for lease obligations and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies for a discussion of commitments and contingencies related to legal and regulatory proceedings.

Market Risks

See Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk for further information.

Business Environment

We continued to experience destocking in addition to volatile underlying demand conditions across several end-markets in 2023. We continue to closely monitor the impact of, and responses to, geopolitical effects on demand conditions and the supply chain. Demand conditions and moderating raw material costs resulted in elevated industry competitive dynamics and continuing pricing pressure across end-markets. We expect demand challenges to persist and to pressure pricing, which effects we anticipate to be partially offset by improvement in input costs across the year.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are based on the selection and application of significant accounting policies. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of net sales, expenses and allocated charges during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. However, we are not currently aware of any reasonably likely events or circumstances that would result in materially different results.

We believe the following accounting policies and estimates are critical to understanding the financial reporting risks present in the current economic environment. These matters, and the judgments and uncertainties affecting them, are also essential to understanding our reported and future operating results. See Note 2 - Summary of Accounting Policies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

• Purchase Accounting

We recognize the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values as of the acquisition date. The excess of purchase price over the aggregate fair values is recorded as goodwill. Intangible assets are valued using the relief from royalty, multi-period excess earnings and discounted cash flow methodologies, which are considered Level 3 measurements. The relief from royalty method estimates our theoretical royalty savings from ownership of the intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this method include discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Key assumptions used in the multi-period excess earnings method include discount rates, retention rates, growth rates, sales projections, expense projections and contributory asset charges. Key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. All of these methodologies require significant management judgment and, therefore, are susceptible to change. We calculate the fair value of the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed to allocate the purchase price at the acquisition date. We may use the assistance of third-party valuation consultants. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

• Recoverability of Long-Lived Assets

Recoverability of Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Assets

We assess the recoverability of the carrying amount of our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets annually during the third quarter of our fiscal year using June 30 balances or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be fully recoverable.

When assessing the recoverability of goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets, we may first assess qualitative factors in determining whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit or another indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying amount. The qualitative evaluation is an assessment of multiple factors, including the current operating environment, financial performance and market considerations. We may elect to bypass the qualitative assessment for some or all of our reporting units or other indefinite-lived intangible assets and proceed directly to a quantitative analysis depending on the facts and circumstances.

In performing a quantitative analysis of goodwill, recoverability of goodwill for each reporting unit is measured using a discounted cash flow model incorporating discount rates commensurate with the risks involved. The key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, growth rates and cash flow projections are the most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment.

Management tests other indefinite-lived intangible assets quantitatively utilizing the relief from royalty method under the income approach to determine the estimated fair value for each indefinite-lived intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this model include discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, tax rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, tax rates and sales projections are the assumptions most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment.

Specific assumptions discussed above are updated at the date of each test to consider current industry and company-specific risk factors from the perspective of a market participant. The current business environment is subject to evolving market conditions and requires significant management judgment to interpret the potential impact to our assumptions. To the extent that changes in the current business environment result in adjusted management projections, impairment losses may occur in future periods.

See Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

• Benefit Obligations

Various assumptions are used in the calculation of the actuarial valuation of the employee benefit plans. These key assumptions include the discount rate and expected long-term rates of return on plan assets. The actuarial assumptions used may differ materially from actual results due to changing market and economic conditions. These differences may result in a significant impact to the amount of net periodic benefit cost recorded in future periods.

Pension assumptions are reviewed annually in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year and whenever a plan is required to be remeasured. Assumptions are reviewed on a plan and country-specific basis by third-party actuaries and senior management. Such assumptions are adjusted as appropriate to reflect changes in market rates and outlook.

See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

The estimated change in pension net periodic benefit cost and projected benefit obligations that would occur in 2024 from a change in the indicated assumptions are as follows:

(1) Excludes nonqualified pension plans.

• Income Taxes

We regularly review our deferred tax assets for recoverability and establish a valuation allowance as needed. In forming our judgment regarding the recoverability of deferred tax assets related to deductible temporary differences and tax attribute carryforwards, we give weight to positive and negative evidence based on the extent to which the forms of evidence can be objectively verified.

The recoverability of deferred tax assets and the recognition and measurement of uncertain tax positions are subject to various assumptions and management judgment. If actual results differ from the estimates made by management in establishing or maintaining valuation allowances against deferred tax assets, the resulting change in the valuation allowance would generally impact earnings or Other comprehensive income depending on the nature of the respective deferred tax asset. In addition, the positions taken with regard to tax contingencies may be subject to audit and review by tax authorities, which may result in future taxes, interest and penalties.

See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 3 - Recent Accounting Pronouncements in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for information regarding recent accounting pronouncements.

Market Risks

Our financial market risk consists principally of exposure to currency exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices. Exchange rate and interest rate risks are managed with a variety of techniques, including use of derivatives. We have in place policies of hedging against changes in currency exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices as described below.

See Note 2 - Summary of Accounting Policies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information regarding our derivative and hedging instruments accounting policies related to financial market risk.

See Note 17 - Derivative Financial Instruments in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information regarding our market risk management and the related impact on our financial position and results of operations.

• Foreign Currency Forwards and Swaps

A portion of our assets, liabilities, net sales and expenses are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Fluctuations in the value of these currencies against the U.S. dollar can have a direct and material impact on the business and financial results. Our largest exposures are to the euro and Chinese yuan ("CNY"). A decline in the value of the euro and CNY versus the U.S. dollar results in a decline in the U.S. dollar value of our sales and earnings denominated in euros and CNYs. Likewise, an increase in the value of the euro and CNY versus the U.S. dollar would result in an opposite effect. We estimate that a 10% change in the euro/U.S. dollar and CNY/U.S. dollar exchange rates would impact our earnings by $19 million and $31 million, respectively.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we have evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report. Based on that evaluation, as of December 31, 2023, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

During the three months ended December 31, 2023, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Report of Management on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company. Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Internal control over financial reporting includes maintaining records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions; providing reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary for preparation of our consolidated financial statements; providing reasonable assurance that receipts and expenditures of company assets are made in accordance with management authorization; and providing reasonable assurance that unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of company assets that could have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that a misstatement of our consolidated financial statements would be prevented or detected.

Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that the Company's internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023. The Company's independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG LLP, has issued an audit report on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Their report follows on page 62.