LIN Assumptions

(1) The expected long term rate of return on the U.S. and non-U.S. plan assets is estimated based on the plans' investment strategy and asset allocation, historical capital market performance and, to a lesser extent, historical plan performance. For the U.S. plans, the expected rate of return of 7.00% was derived based on the target asset allocation of 50%-70% equity securities (approximately 8.40% expected return), 20%-50% fixed income securities (approximately 4.80% expected return) and 2%-8% alternative investments (approximately 3.40% expected return). For the non-U.S. plans, the expected rate of return was derived based on the weighted average target asset allocation of 15%-25% equity securities (approximately 7.20% expected return), 30%-50% fixed income securities (approximately 5.90% expected return), and 30%-50% alternative investments (approximately 5.80% expected return). For the U.S. plan assets, the actual annualized total return for the most recent 10-year period ended December 31, 2023 was approximately 6.60%. For the non-U.S. plan assets, the actual annualized total return for the same period was approximately 4.90%. Changes to plan asset allocations and investment strategy over this time period limit the value of historical plan performance as a factor in estimating the expected long term rate of return. For 2024, the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets will be 7.00% for the U.S. plans and 5.83%. for non-U.S. plans.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

The investments of the U.S. pension plan are managed to meet the future expected benefit liabilities of the plan over the long term by investing in diversified portfolios consistent with prudent diversification and historical and expected capital market returns. Investment strategies are reviewed by management and investment performance is tracked against appropriate benchmarks. There are no concentrations of risk as it relates to the assets within the plans. The non-U.S. pension plans are managed individually based on diversified investment portfolios, with different target asset allocations that vary for each plan. Weighted-average asset allocations at December 31, 2023 and 2022 for Linde’s U.S. and non-U.S. pension plans, as well as respective asset allocation ranges by major asset category, are generally as follows: Table of Contents ##########U.S.################Non-U.S.###### Asset Category####Target 2023######Target 2022####2023##2022####Target 2023######Target 2022####2023##2022 Equity securities##50%##-##70%##50%##-##70%##59%##60%##15%##-##25%##15%##-##25%##22%##20% Fixed income securities##20%##-##50%##20%##-##50%##31%##29%##30%##-##50%##30%##-##50%##30%##30% Other##2%##-##8%##2%##-##8%##10%##11%##30%##-##50%##30%##-##50%##48%##50%


LIN Pension Plan Assets

The following table summarizes pension assets measured at fair value by asset category at December 31, 2023 and 2022. Transfers of assets were not material for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. See Note 13 for the definition of levels within the fair value hierarchy: ################Fair Value Measurements Using######################## ######Level 1##########Level 2##########Level 3 **##########Total#### (Millions of dollars)####2023######2022####2023######2022####2023######2022####2023######2022 Cash and cash equivalents##$##368####$##313##$##—####$##—##$##—####$##—##$##368####$##313 Equity securities:######################################## Global equities####926######778####—######—####—######—####926######778 Mutual funds####298######248####—######—####—######—####298######248 Fixed income securities:######################################## Government bonds####—######—####1,486######1,317####—######—####1,486######1,317 Emerging market debt####—######—####283######245####—######—####283######245 Mutual funds####119######101####60######55####—######—####179######156 Corporate bonds####—######—####324######372####—######—####324######372 Bank loans####—######—####27######18####—######—####27######18 Alternative investments:######################################## Real estate funds####—######—####—######—####324######353####324######353 Private debt####—######—####—######—####1,345######1,360####1,345######1,360 Insurance contracts####—######—####—######—####51######46####51######46 Liquid alternative####—######—####1,022######982####—######—####1,022######982 Other investments####1######1####22######39####—######—####23######40 Total plan assets at fair value, December 31,##$##1,712####$##1,441##$##3,224####$##3,028##$##1,720####$##1,759##$##6,656####$##6,228 Pooled funds *##################################1,572######1,457 Total fair value plan assets December 31,################################$##8,228####$##7,685


LIN Pension Plan Assets

* Pooled funds are measured using the net asset value ("NAV") as a practical expedient for fair value as permissible under the accounting standard for fair value measurements and have not been categorized in the fair value hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

** The following table summarizes changes in fair value of the pension plan assets classified as level 3 for the periods ended December 31, 2023 and 2022: Table of Contents (Millions of dollars)####Insurance Contracts####Real Estate Funds####Private Debt####Total Balance, December 31, 2021##$##12##$##360##$##1,368##$##1,740 Gain/(Loss) for the period####—####5####93####98 Purchases####2####18####63####83 Sales####—####(22)####(34)####(56) Transfer into/ (out of) Level 3####33####—####—####33 Foreign currency translation####(1)####(8)####(130)####(139) Balance, December 31, 2022####46####353####1,360####1,759 Gain/(Loss) for the period####—####(27)####(38)####(65) Purchases####1####3####1####5 Sales####—####(15)####(44)####(59) Transfer into / (out of) Level 3####—####—####—####— Foreign currency translation####4####10####66####80 Balance, December 31, 2023##$##51##$##324##$##1,345##$##1,720


LIN Pension Plan Assets

The descriptions and fair value methodologies for the company's pension plan assets are as follows:


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Cash and Cash Equivalents – This category includes cash and short-term interest bearing investments with maturities of three months or less. Investments are valued at cost plus accrued interest. Cash and cash equivalents are classified within level 1 of the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Equity Securities – This category is comprised of shares of common stock in U.S. and non-U.S. companies from a diverse set of industries and size. Common stock is valued at the closing market price reported on a U.S. or non-U.S. exchange where the security is actively traded. Equity securities are classified within level 1 of the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Mutual Funds – These categories consist of publicly and privately managed funds that invest primarily in marketable equity and fixed income securities. The fair value of these investments is determined by reference to the net asset value of the underlying securities of the fund. Shares of publicly traded mutual funds are valued at the net asset value quoted on the exchange where the fund is traded and are primarily classified as level 1 within the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Emerging Market Debt - This category includes fixed income debt issued by countries with developing economies as well as by corporations within those nations. They typically have higher yields but lower credit ratings relative to developed country corporate and government bonds. The fair values for these investments are classified as level 2 within the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

U.S. and Non-U.S. Government Bonds – This category includes U.S. treasuries, U.S. federal agency obligations and non-U.S. government debt. The majority of these investments do not have quoted market prices available for a specific government security and so the fair value is determined using quoted prices of similar securities in active markets and is classified as level 2 within the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Corporate Bonds – This category is comprised of corporate bonds of U.S. and non-U.S. companies from a diverse set of industries and size. The fair values for U.S. and non-U.S. corporate bonds are determined using quoted prices of similar securities in active markets and observable data or broker or dealer quotations. The fair values for these investments are classified as level 2 within the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Pooled Funds - Pooled fund NAVs are provided by the trustee and are determined by reference to the fair value of the underlying securities of the trust, less its liabilities, which are valued primarily through the use of directly or indirectly observable inputs. Depending on the pooled fund, underlying securities may include marketable equity securities or fixed income securities.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Bank Loans - This category is comprised of traded syndicated loans of larger corporate borrowers. Such loans are issued by sub-investment grade rated companies both in the U.S. and internationally and are syndicated by investment banks to institutional investors. They are regularly traded in an active dealer market comprised of large investment banks, which supply bid and offer quotes and are therefore classified within level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Pension Plan Assets

Liquid Alternative Investments - This category is comprised of investments in alternative mutual funds whose holdings include liquid securities, cash, and derivatives. Such funds focus on diversification and employ a variety of investing strategies including long/short equity, multi-strategy, and global macro. The fair value of these investments is determined by reference to the net asset value of the underlying holdings of the fund, which can be determined using


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observable data (e.g., indices, yield curves, quoted prices of similar securities), and is classified within level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.


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Insurance Contracts – This category is comprised of purchased annuity insurance contracts (annuity contract buy-ins) and is intended to mitigate the Company's exposure to certain risks, such as longevity risk. The fair value is calculated based on the cash surrender value of the purchased annuity insurance contract, which is determined based on such factors as the fair value of the underlying assets and discounted cash flows. These contracts are with highly rated insurance companies. Insurance contracts are classified within level 3 of the valuation hierarchy.


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Real Estate Funds – This category includes real estate properties, partnership equities and investments in operating companies. The fair value of the assets is determined using discounted cash flows by estimating an income stream for the property plus a reversion into a present value at a risk adjusted rate. Yield rates and growth assumptions utilized are derived from market transactions as well as other financial and industry data. The fair value for these investments are classified within level 3 of the valuation hierarchy.


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Private Debt - This category includes non-traded, privately-arranged loans between one or a small group of private debt investment managers and corporate borrowers, which are typically too small to access the syndicated market and have no credit rating. This category also includes similar loans to real estate companies or individual properties. Loans included in this category are valued at par value, are held to maturity or to call, and are classified within level 3 of the valuation hierarchy.


LIN Contributions

At a minimum, Linde contributes to its pension plans to comply with local regulatory requirements (e.g., ERISA in the United States). Discretionary contributions in excess of the local minimum requirements are made based on many factors, including long-term projections of the plans' funded status, the economic environment, potential risk of overfunding, pension insurance costs and alternative uses of the cash. Changes to these factors can impact the timing of discretionary contributions from year to year. Pension contributions were $46 million in 2023, $51 million in 2022 and $42 million in 2021. Estimated required contributions for 2024 are currently expected to be in the range of $35 million to $45 million.


LIN Estimated Future Benefit Payments

The following table presents estimated future benefit payments, net of participant contributions: (Millions of dollars)######Pensions#### Year Ended December 31,####U.S.######Non-U.S. 2024##$##203####$##355 2025####166######341 2026####163######353 2027####166######359 2028####165######373 2029-2033####824######1,974


LIN NOTE 17. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

The company accrues non income-tax liabilities for contingencies when management believes that a loss is probable and the amounts can be reasonably estimated, while contingent gains are recognized only when realized. In the event any losses are sustained in excess of accruals, they will be charged against income at that time. Attorney fees are recorded as incurred. Commitments represent obligations, such as those for future purchases of goods or services, that are not yet recorded on the company’s balance sheet as liabilities. The company records liabilities for commitments when incurred (i.e., when the goods or services are received).


LIN Contingent Liabilities

Linde is subject to various lawsuits and government investigations that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business. These actions are based upon alleged environmental, tax, antitrust and personal injury claims, among others. Linde has strong defenses in these cases and intends to defend itself vigorously. It is possible that the company may incur losses in connection with some of these actions in excess of accrued liabilities. Management does not anticipate that in the aggregate such losses would have a material adverse effect on the company’s consolidated financial position or liquidity; however, it is possible that the final outcomes could have a significant impact on the company’s reported results of operations in any given period.


LIN Contingent Liabilities

Significant matters are: •During 2009, the Brazilian government published Law 11941/2009 instituting a new voluntary amnesty program (“Refis Program”) which allowed Brazilian companies to settle certain federal tax disputes at reduced amounts. During 2009, the company decided that it was economically beneficial to settle many of its outstanding federal tax disputes and such disputes were enrolled in the Refis Program, subject to final calculation and review by the Brazilian federal government. The company recorded estimated liabilities based on the terms of the Refis Program. Since 2009, Linde has been unable to reach final agreement on the calculations and initiated litigation against the government in an attempt to resolve certain items. Open issues relate to the following matters: (i) application of cash deposits and net operating loss carryforwards to satisfy obligations and (ii) the amount of tax reductions available under the Refis Program. It is difficult to estimate the timing of resolution of legal matters in Brazil. •At December 31, 2023, the most significant non-income tax claims in Brazil, after enrollment in the Refis Program, relate to state VAT tax matters. The total estimated exposure relating to such claims, including interest and penalties, as appropriate, is approximately $115 million. Linde has not recorded any liabilities related to such claims based on management judgment and opinions of outside counsel.


LIN Contingent Liabilities

During the first quarter of 2023, the Brazilian Supreme Court issued a decision confirming the constitutionality of a specific federal income tax, with retroactive effect. As a result of this decision, the company recorded a reserve based on its best estimate of potential settlement (see Note 3). This decision has not yet been finalized and is subject to ongoing motions for clarification. Because litigation in Brazil historically takes many years to resolve, it is very difficult to estimate the timing of resolution of these matters; however, it is possible that certain of these matters may be resolved within the near term. The company is vigorously defending against the proceedings. •On September 1, 2010, CADE (Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense) announced alleged anticompetitive activity on the part of five industrial gas companies in Brazil and imposed fines. CADE imposed a civil fine of R$1.7 billion Brazilian reais ($350 million) on White Martins, the Brazil-based subsidiary of Linde Inc., and R$0.2 billion Brazilian reais ($41 million) on Linde Gases Ltda., the former Brazil-based subsidiary of Linde AG, which was divested to MG Industries GmbH on March 1, 2019 and with respect to which Linde provided a contractual indemnity.


LIN Contingent Liabilities

The fine against White Martins and Linde Gases Ltda. was overturned by the Ninth and Seventh Federal Courts of Brasilia, respectively. CADE appealed these decisions, and the Federal Court of Appeals rejected CADE's appeals and confirmed the decision of the Ninth and Seventh Federal Courts of Brasilia. CADE had filed appeals for both subsidiaries with the Superior Court of Justice which were denied. CADE filed subsequent appeals to a panel of the Supreme Court of Justice and final and binding decisions were issued by the Supreme Court of Justice annulling the fine imposed against Linde Gases Ltda and White Martins in September 2023 and January 2024, respectively. •On and after April 23, 2019 former shareholders of Linde AG filed appraisal proceedings at the District Court (Landgericht) Munich I (Germany), seeking an increase of the cash consideration paid in connection with the previously completed cash merger squeeze-out of all of Linde AG’s minority shareholders for €189.46 per share. Any such increase would apply to all 14,763,113 Linde AG shares that were outstanding on April 8, 2019, when


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the cash merger squeeze-out was completed. The period for plaintiffs to file claims expired on July 9, 2019. In November 2023, the court issued a decision rejecting the plaintiffs’ claims in their entirety and determining that the cash merger squeeze-out consideration was appropriate. The plaintiffs are entitled to appeal this decision.


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The company believes the consideration paid was fair and that the claims are not supported by sufficient evidence, and no reserve has been established. We cannot estimate the timing of resolution. •On December 30, 2022, the Russian Arbitration Court of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region ("St. Petersburg Court") issued an injunction preventing (i) the sale of any shares in Linde’s subsidiaries and joint ventures in Russia, and (ii) the disposal of any of the assets in those entities exceeding 5% of the relevant company’s overall asset value. The injunction was requested by RusChemAlliance (RCA) as a preliminary measure to secure payment of a possible eventual award under an arbitration proceeding RCA intended to file against Linde Engineering for alleged breach of contract under the agreement to build a gas processing plant in Ust Luga, Russia entered into between a consortium of Linde Engineering, Renaissance Heavy Industries LLC, and RCA on July 7, 2021. Performance of the agreement was lawfully suspended by Linde Engineering on May 27, 2022 in compliance with applicable sanctions and in accordance with a decision by the sanctions authority in Germany. On March 1, 2023, RCA filed a claim in St. Petersburg against Linde GmbH for recovery of advance payments under the agreement ("Russian Claim"), and subsequently (i) added Linde and other Linde subsidiaries as defendants, and (ii) is seeking payment of alleged damages from Linde (pursuant to corporate guarantees) and guarantor banks.


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On March 4, 2023, in accordance with the dispute resolution provisions of the agreement, Linde GmbH filed a notice of arbitration with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ("HKIAC") against RCA to claim that (i) RCA has no entitlement to payment, (ii) RCA’s Russian claim is in breach of the arbitration agreement which requires HKIAC arbitration, and (iii) RCA must compensate Linde for the losses and damages caused by the injunction. Additionally, Linde GmbH filed for and on March 17, 2023 obtained an anti-suit injunction from a Hong Kong court against RCA directing RCA to seek a stay of the Russian Claim and ordering it to resolve any disputes in accordance with HKIAC arbitration. On September 27, 2023, the anti-suit injunction was confirmed by the same Hong Kong court. On January 4, 2024, the Hong Kong court issued a final judgment in Linde’s favor (i) granting a permanent anti-suit injunction against RCA, (ii) granting a permanent, global anti-enforcement injunction against RCA, and (iii) ordering that the injunction issued by the St. Petersburg Court be lifted.


LIN Table of Contents

As of December 31, 2023, Linde has a contingent liability of $1.1 billion recorded in Other long-term liabilities, which represents advance payments previously recorded in contract liabilities as of December 31, 2022 related to terminated engineering projects with RCA. As a result of the contract terminations, Linde no longer has future performance obligations for these projects. Linde deconsolidated its Russian gas and engineering business entities as of June 30, 2022, and the remaining investment value of its Russia subsidiaries is immaterial.


LIN Table of Contents

Despite the January 4, 2024 decision of the Hong Kong court, the injunction affecting Linde’s shares and assets has not been lifted, the proceeding in St. Petersburg has not been stayed and RCA is continuing to pursue its claim in Russia. On February 20, 2024, the St. Petersburg Court issued its decision and granted the Russian Claim in RCA’s favor. Linde has 30 days to appeal this decision and expects to do so prior to the expiration of that deadline. If Linde appeals, RCA cannot enforce the decision (including foreclosing on the shares of the Russian entities) until after the appeal is decided.


LIN Table of Contents

Linde does not expect an adverse impact on earnings from this decision given the contingent liability recorded as of December 31, 2023 and the immaterial remaining investment value of its deconsolidated Russia subsidiaries.


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It is difficult to estimate the timing of resolution of this matter. The company intends to vigorously defend its interests in both the Russian Claim and arbitration proceedings.


LIN Commitments

At December 31, 2023, Linde had undrawn outstanding letters of credit, bank guarantees and surety bonds valued at approximately $3,344 million from financial institutions. These relate primarily to customer contract performance guarantees (including plant construction in connection with certain on-site contracts), self-insurance claims and other commercial and governmental requirements, including non-U.S. litigation matters.


LIN Commitments

Other commitments related to leases, tax liabilities for uncertain tax positions, long-term debt, other post retirement and pension obligations are summarized elsewhere in the financial statements (see Notes 4, 5, 11, and 16).


LIN NOTE 18. SEGMENT INFORMATION

Linde’s operations consist of two major product lines: industrial gases and engineering. As further described in the following paragraph, Linde’s industrial gases operations are managed on a geographic basis, which represent three of the company's reportable segments - Americas, EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Africa), and APAC (Asia/South Pacific); a fourth reportable segment, which represents the company's Engineering business, designs and manufactures equipment for air separation and other industrial gas applications specifically for end customers and is managed on a worldwide basis operating in all three geographic segments. Other consists of corporate costs and a few smaller businesses which individually do not meet the quantitative thresholds for separate presentation.


LIN NOTE 18. SEGMENT INFORMATION

The industrial gases product line centers on the manufacturing and distribution of atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, rare gases) and process gases (carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, acetylene). Many of these products are co-products of the same manufacturing process. Linde manufactures and distributes nearly all of its products and manages its customer relationships on a regional basis. Linde’s industrial gases are distributed to various end-markets within a regional segment through one of three basic distribution methods: on-site or tonnage; merchant or bulk; and packaged or cylinder gases. The distribution methods are generally integrated in order to best meet the customer’s needs and very few of its products can be economically transported outside of a region. Therefore, the distribution economics are specific to the various geographies in which the company operates and are consistent with how management assesses performance.


LIN NOTE 18. SEGMENT INFORMATION

The company’s measure of profit/loss for segment reporting is segment operating profit. Segment operating profit is defined as operating profit excluding purchase accounting impacts of the Linde AG merger, intercompany royalties, and items not indicative of ongoing business trends. This is the manner in which the company’s CODM assesses performance and allocates resources. Similarly, total assets have not been included as this is not provided to the CODM for their assessment.


LIN NOTE 18. SEGMENT INFORMATION

The table below presents information about reportable segments for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021. (Millions of dollars)####2023####2022####2021 Sales (a)############ Americas##$##14,304##$##13,874##$##12,103 EMEA####8,542####8,443####7,643 APAC####6,559####6,480####6,133 Engineering####2,160####2,762####2,867 Other####1,289####1,805####2,047 Total Sales##$##32,854##$##33,364##$##30,793 ####2023####2022####2021 Segment Operating Profit############ Americas##$##4,244##$##3,732##$##3,368 EMEA####2,486####2,013####1,889 APAC####1,806####1,670####1,502 Engineering####491####555####473 Other####43####(66)####(56) Reported Segment operating profit####9,070####7,904####7,176 Other charges (Note 3)####(40)####(1,029)####(273) Purchase accounting impacts - Linde AG####(1,006)####(1,506)####(1,919) Total operating profit##$##8,024##$##5,369##$##4,984


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####2023####2022####2021 Depreciation and Amortization############ Americas##$##1,423##$##1,320##$##1,243 EMEA####640####661####752 APAC####633####593####611 Engineering####33####33####39 Other####96####116####127 Segment depreciation and amortization####2,825####2,723####2,772 Purchase accounting impacts - Linde AG####991####1,481####1,863 Total depreciation and amortization##$##3,816##$##4,204##$##4,635 ####2023####2022####2021 Capital Expenditures and Acquisitions############ Americas##$##2,999##$##1,698##$##1,354 EMEA####635####550####669 APAC####975####889####995 Engineering####24####28####25 Other####107####118####131 Total Capital Expenditures and Acquisitions##$##4,740##$##3,283##$##3,174 ####2023####2022####2021 Sales by Major Country############ United States##$##10,566##$##10,553##$##9,123 Germany (c)####2,827####3,662####3,601 China####2,585####2,643####2,562 United Kingdom####1,507####1,954####2,060 Australia####1,303####1,372####1,307 Brazil####1,302####1,158####1,065 Other – non-U.S.####12,764####12,022####11,075 Total sales##$##32,854##$##33,364##$##30,793 ####2023####2022####2021 Long-lived Assets by Major Country (b)############ United States##$##8,490##$##7,663##$##7,659 Germany####1,584####1,678####2,003 China####2,063####2,176####2,385 United Kingdom####684####704####1,078 Australia####654####688####872 Brazil####836####720####705 Other – non-U.S.####10,241####9,919####11,301 Total long-lived assets##$##24,552##$##23,548##$##26,003


LIN ________________________

(a)Sales reflect external sales only. Intersegment sales, primarily from Engineering to the industrial gases segments, were $1,479 million, $1,035 million and $896 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.


LIN ________________________

(b)Long-lived assets include property, plant and equipment - net.


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(c)Sales in Germany include Engineering sales to third parties, locally and internationally, which represent 35%, 44% and 53% of Germany sales in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.


LIN 19. REVENUE RECOGNITION

Revenue is accounted for in accordance with ASC 606. Revenue is recognized as control of goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled to receive in exchange for the goods or services.


LIN Contracts with Customers

Linde serves a diverse group of industries including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics.


LIN Industrial Gases

Within each of the company’s geographic segments for industrial gases, there are three basic distribution methods: (i) on-site or tonnage; (ii) merchant or bulk liquid; and (iii) packaged or cylinder gases. The distribution method used by Linde to supply a customer is determined by many factors, including the customer’s volume requirements and location. The distribution method generally determines the contract terms with the customer and, accordingly, the revenue recognition accounting practices. Linde's primary products in its industrial gases business are atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, rare gases) and process gases (carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, acetylene). These products are generally sold through one of the three distribution methods.


LIN Industrial Gases

Following is a description of each of the three industrial gases distribution methods and the respective revenue recognition policies:


LIN Industrial Gases

On-site. Customers that require the largest volumes of product and that have a relatively constant demand pattern are supplied by cryogenic and process gas on-site plants. Linde constructs plants on or adjacent to these customers’ sites and supplies the product directly to customers by pipeline. Where there are large concentrations of customers, a single pipeline may be connected to several plants and customers. On-site product supply contracts generally are total requirement contracts with terms typically ranging from 10-20 years and contain minimum purchase requirements and price escalation provisions. Many of the cryogenic on-site plants also produce liquid products for the merchant market. Therefore, plants are typically not dedicated to a single customer. Additionally, Linde is responsible for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of the plants and our customers typically have no involvement in these activities. Advanced air separation processes also allow on-site delivery to customers with smaller volume requirements.


LIN Industrial Gases

The company’s performance obligations related to on-site customers are satisfied over time as customers receive and obtain control of the product. Linde has elected to apply the practical expedient for measuring progress towards the completion of a performance obligation and recognizes revenue as the company has the right to invoice each customer, which generally corresponds with product delivery. Accordingly, revenue is recognized when product is delivered to the customer and the company has the right to invoice the customer in accordance with the contract terms. Consideration in these contracts is generally based on pricing which fluctuates with various price indices. Variable components of consideration exist within on-site contracts but are considered constrained.


LIN Industrial Gases

Merchant. Merchant deliveries generally are made from Linde's plants by tanker trucks to storage containers at the customer's site. Due to the relatively high distribution cost, merchant oxygen and nitrogen generally have a relatively small distribution radius from the plants at which they are produced. Merchant argon, hydrogen and helium can be shipped much longer distances. The customer agreements used in the merchant business are usually three to seven year supply agreements based on the requirements of the customer. These contracts generally do not contain minimum purchase requirements or volume commitments.


LIN Industrial Gases

The company’s performance obligations related to merchant customers are generally satisfied at a point in time as the customers receive and obtain control of the product. Revenue is recognized when product is delivered to the customer and the company has the right to invoice the customer in accordance with the contract terms. Any variable components of consideration within merchant contracts are constrained however this consideration is not significant.


LIN Industrial Gases

Packaged Gases. Customers requiring small volumes are supplied products in containers called cylinders, under medium to high pressure. Linde distributes merchant gases from its production plants to company-owned cylinder filling plants where cylinders are then filled for distribution to customers. Cylinders may be delivered to the customer’s site or picked up by the customer at a packaging facility or retail store. Linde invoices the customer for the industrial gases and the use of the cylinder container(s). The company also sells hardgoods and welding equipment purchased from independent manufacturers. Packaged gases are generally sold under one to three-year supply contracts and purchase orders and do not contain minimum purchase requirements or volume commitments.


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The company’s performance obligations related to packaged gases are satisfied at a point in time. Accordingly, revenue is recognized when product is delivered to the customer or when the customer picks up product from a packaged gas facility or retail store, and the company has the right to payment from the customer in accordance with the contract terms. Any variable consideration is constrained and will be recognized when the uncertainty related to the consideration is resolved.


LIN Engineering

The company designs and manufactures equipment for air separation and other industrial gas applications manufactured specifically for end customers. Sale of equipment contracts are generally comprised of a single performance obligation. Revenue from sale of equipment is generally recognized over time as Linde has an enforceable right to payment for performance completed to date and performance does not create an asset with alternative use. For contracts recognized over time, revenue is recognized primarily using a cost incurred input method. Costs incurred to date relative to total estimated costs at completion are used to measure progress toward satisfying performance obligations. Costs incurred include material, labor, and overhead costs and represent work contributing and proportionate to the transfer of control to the customer. Changes to cost estimates and contract modifications are typically accounted for as part of the existing contract and are recognized as a cumulative adjustments for the inception-to-date effect of such change.


LIN Contract Assets and Liabilities

Contract assets and liabilities result from differences in timing of revenue recognition and customer invoicing. Contract assets primarily relate to sale of equipment contracts for which revenue is recognized over time. The balance represents unbilled revenue which occurs when revenue recognized under the measure of progress exceeds amounts invoiced to customers. Customer invoices may be based on the passage of time, the achievement of certain contractual milestones or a combination of both criteria. Contract liabilities include advance payments or right to consideration prior to performance under the contract. Contract liabilities are recognized as revenue as performance obligations are satisfied under contract terms. Linde has contract assets of $196 million at December 31, 2023 and $124 million at December 31, 2022. Total contract liabilities are $2,950 million at December 31, 2023 (current of $1,901 million and $1,049 million within deferred credits in the consolidated balance sheets). As of December 31, 2023, Linde has $418 million recorded in contract liabilities related to engineering projects in Russia subject to sanctions and therefore suspended and lawfully wound down. Total contract liabilities were $3,986 million at December 31, 2022 (current contract liabilities of $3,073 million and $913 million within deferred credits in the consolidated balance sheets). The decrease in contract liabilities is primarily related to a reclassification of contract liabilities to a contingent liability in other long-term liabilities associated with an engineering project in Russia (see Note 17). Revenue recognized for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 that was included in the contract liability at December 31, 2022 was $1,017 million. Contract assets and liabilities primarily relate to the Engineering business.


LIN Payment Terms and Other

Linde generally receives payment after performance obligations are satisfied, and customer prepayments are not typical for the industrial gases business. Payment terms vary based on the country where sales originate and local customary payment practices. Linde does not offer extended financing outside of customary payment terms. Amounts billed for sales and use taxes, value-added taxes, and certain excise and other specific transactional taxes imposed on revenue producing transactions are presented on a net basis and are not included in sales within the consolidated statement of income. Additionally, sales returns and allowances are not a normal practice in the industry and are not significant.


LIN Disaggregated Revenue Information

As described above and in Note 18, the company manages its industrial gases business on a geographic basis, while the Engineering and Other businesses are generally managed on a global basis. Furthermore, the company believes that reporting sales by distribution method by reportable geographic segment best illustrates the nature, timing, type of customer, and contract terms for its revenues, including terms and pricing.


LIN Disaggregated Revenue Information

The following tables show sales by distribution method at the consolidated level and for each reportable segment and Other for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021.


LIN Table of Contents

(Millions of dollars)################Year Ended December 31, 2023############ Sales####Americas####EMEA####APAC####Engineering####Other####Total##%## Merchant##$##4,370##$##2,773##$##2,242##$##—##$##218##$##9,603##29##% On-Site####3,246####1,980####2,599####—####—####7,825##24##% Packaged Gas####6,457####3,735####1,416####—####46####11,654##35##% Other####231####54####302####2,160####1,025####3,772##12##% ##$##14,304##$##8,542##$##6,559##$##2,160##$##1,289##$##32,854##100##% (Millions of dollars)################Year Ended December 31, 2022############ Sales####Americas####EMEA####APAC####Engineering####Other####Total##%## Merchant##$##3,786##$##2,509##$##2,220##$##—##$##176##$##8,691##26##% On-Site####4,048####2,415####2,471####—####—####8,934##27##% Packaged Gas####5,831####3,466####1,523####—####51####10,871##33##% Other####209####53####266####2,762####1,578####4,868##14##% ##$##13,874##$##8,443##$##6,480##$##2,762##$##1,805##$##33,364##100##% (Millions of dollars)################Year Ended December 31, 2021############ Sales####Americas####EMEA####APAC####Engineering####Other####Total##%## Merchant##$##3,279##$##2,227##$##2,181##$##—##$##173##$##7,860##26##% On-Site####3,225####1,824####2,296####—####—####7,345##24##% Packaged Gas####5,456####3,539####1,532####—####24####10,551##34##% Other####143####53####124####2,867####1,850####5,037##16##% ##$##12,103##$##7,643##$##6,133##$##2,867##$##2,047##$##30,793##100##%


LIN Remaining Performance Obligations

As described above, Linde's contracts with on-site customers are under long-term supply arrangements which generally require the customer to purchase their requirements from Linde and also have minimum purchase requirements. Additionally, plant sales from the Linde Engineering business are primarily contracted on a fixed price basis. The company estimates the consideration related to future minimum purchase requirements and plant sales was approximately $48 billion (excludes Russian projects which are impacted by sanctions). This amount excludes all on-site sales above minimum purchase requirements, which can be significant depending on customer needs. In the future, actual amounts will be different due to impacts from several factors, many of which are beyond the company’s control including, but not limited to, timing of newly signed, terminated and renewed contracts, inflationary price escalations, currency exchange rates, and pass-through costs related to natural gas and electricity. The actual duration of long-term supply contracts ranges up to twenty years. The company estimates that approximately half of the revenue related to minimum purchase requirements will be earned in the next five years and the remaining thereafter.


LIN 20. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

In February 2024, Linde issued €700 million of 3.00% notes due in 2028, €850 million of 3.20% notes due in 2031 and €700 million of 3.40% notes due in 2036.


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CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE


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None.


LIN Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Based on an evaluation of the effectiveness of Linde’s disclosure controls and procedures, which was made under the supervision and with the participation of management, including Linde’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer, the principal executive officer and principal financial officer have each concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, such disclosure controls and procedures are effective in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by Linde in reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms, and accumulated and communicated to management including Linde’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.


LIN Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Refer to Item 8 for Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting as of December 31, 2023.


LIN Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in Linde’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, Linde’s internal control over financial reporting.


LIN OTHER INFORMATION

None.


LIN DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS

None.


LIN DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Certain information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Corporate Governance and Board Matters - Director Nominees" and “Corporate Governance And Board Matters - "Delinquent Section 16 (a) Reports" in Linde’s Proxy Statement.


LIN Identification of the Audit Committee

Linde has a separately-designated standing Audit Committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The members of that audit committee are Prof. Dr. Martin H. Richenhagen (chairman), Dr. Thomas Enders, Dr. Victoria Ossadnik and Alberto Weisser and each member is independent within the meaning of the independence standards adopted by the Board of Directors and those of the Nasdaq.


LIN Audit Committee Financial Expert

The Linde Board of Directors has determined that Alberto Weisser satisfy the criteria adopted by the SEC to serve as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined by Item 407(d)(5)(ii) of Regulation S-K of the Exchange Act and is independent within the meaning of the independence standards adopted by the Board of Directors and those of the Nasdaq.


LIN Code of Ethics

Linde has adopted a code of ethics that applies to the company’s directors and all employees, including its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Accounting Officer. This code of ethics, including specific standards for implementing certain provisions of the code, has been approved by the Linde Board of Directors and is named the “Code of Business Integrity”. This document is posted on the company’s public website, www.linde.com but is not incorporated herein.


LIN EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Executive Compensation Matters” and “Corporate Governance and Board Matters - Director Compensation” in Linde’s Proxy Statement.


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SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS


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Equity Compensation Plans Information - The table below provides information as of December 31, 2023 about company shares that may be issued upon the exercise of options, warrants and rights granted to employees or members of Linde’s Board of Directors under equity compensation plans with awards outstanding as of December 31, 2023.


LIN EQUITY COMPENSATION PLANS TABLE

Plan Category##Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights (a)######Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights (b)##Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a)) (c)## Equity compensation plans approved by shareholders##7,034,362##(1)##$##180.58##7,661,431##(2) Equity compensation plans not approved by shareholders##—######—##—## Total##7,034,362####$##180.58##7,661,431##


LIN ________________________

(1)This amount includes 637,600 restricted shares and 571,628 performance shares.


LIN ________________________

(2)This amount reflects shares available for future issuances pursuant to the 2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan that was approved by shareholders on July 26, 2021.


LIN ________________________

Certain information required by this item regarding the beneficial ownership of the company’s ordinary shares is incorporated herein by reference to the section captioned “Information on Share Ownership” in Linde’s Proxy Statement.


LIN CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE

Information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Corporate Governance And Board Matters – Review, Approval or Ratification of Transactions with Related Persons,” “Corporate Governance And Board Matters – Certain Relationships and Transactions,” and “Corporate Governance And Board Matters – Director Independence” in Linde’s Proxy Statement.


LIN PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES

Information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the section captioned “Audit Matters” in Linde’s Proxy Statement.


LIN EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES

(a)The following documents are filed as part of this report:


(i)The company’s 2023 Consolidated Financial Statements and the Report of the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm are included in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.


(ii)Financial Statement Schedules – All financial statement schedules have been omitted because they are not applicable or the required information is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.


(iii)Exhibits – The exhibits filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K are listed in the accompanying index.


LIN Linde plc and Subsidiaries

Exhibit No.##Description 2.1##Business Combination Agreement by and among Linde Aktiengesellschaft, Praxair, Inc., Zamalight PLC, Zamalight Holdco LLC and Zamalight Subco, Inc. dated as of June 1, 2017 (Filed as Exhibit 2.1 to Praxair, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K dated June 1, 2017, Filing No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference.) 2.1a##Amendment No. 1, dated August 10, 2017, to the Business Combination Agreement, by and among Praxair, Inc., Linde Aktiengesellschaft, Linde plc, Zamalight Holdco LLC and Zamalight Subco, Inc. (Filed as Exhibit 2.1 to Praxair, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K dated August 10, 2017, Filing No. 1-11037, and is incorporated hereby by reference.) **2.2##Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated July 5, 2018, by and among Praxair, Inc., Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (“Taiyo”), and Linde plc with respect to the sale of a majority of Praxair’s businesses in Europe to Taiyo in connection with the Business Combination Agreement (Filed as Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, File No. 1-38730, and is incorporated hereby by reference). **2.3##Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated July 16, 2018, by and among Linde AG, Praxair, Inc., MG Industries GmbH, Messer Canada Inc., MG Industries USA, Inc. (the MG entities and Messer Canada, Inc. being collectively referred to as “Messer”), and Linde plc with respect to the sale of certain assets of Linde AG in the Americas and certain assets of Praxair, Inc. to Messer in connection with the Business Combination Agreement (Filed as Exhibit 2.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, File No. 1-38730, and is incorporated hereby by reference). **2.3a##First Amendment dated September 21, 2018 to the Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated July 16, 2018, by and among Linde AG, Praxair, Inc., Messer, and Linde plc with respect to the sale of certain additional assets of Linde AG in the Americas to Messer in connection with the Business Combination Agreement (Filed as Exhibit 2.3 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, File No. 1-38730, and is incorporated hereby by reference). **2.3b##Second Amendment dated October 19, 2018 to the Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated July 16, 2018, as amended by the First Amendment thereto, by and among Linde AG, Praxair, Inc., Messer, and Linde plc, with respect to the sale of certain additional assets of Linde AG in the Americas to Messer in connection with the Business Combination Agreement (Filed as Exhibit 2.2 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, File No. 1-11037, and is incorporated hereby by reference). **2.3c##Third Amendment dated February 20, 2019 to the Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated July 16, 2018, as amended by the First and Second Amendment thereto, by and among Linde AG, Praxair, Inc., Messer, and Linde plc, with respect to the sale of certain additional assets of Linde AG in the Americas to Messer in connection with the Business Combination Agreement dated as of June 1, 2017, as amended, to effect a combination of the businesses of Linde AG and Praxair, Inc. (Filed as Exhibit 2.4 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on March 7, 2019, File No. 1-11037, and is incorporated hereby by reference). 3.01##Amended and Restated Public Limited Company Constitution of Linde plc (Filed as Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on March 1, 2023, File No. 001-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.01##Description of Linde plc Shares (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-38730) filed on March 1, 2023). 4.02##Indenture, dated as of July 15, 1992, between Praxair, Inc. and U.S. Bank National Association, as the ultimate successor trustee to Bank of America, Illinois, formerly Continental Bank, National Association (Filed as Exhibit 4 to Praxair, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K dated March 19, 2007, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.03##Form of Subordinated Indenture for Praxair, Inc. (Filed as Exhibit 4.3 to Praxair, Inc.'s Form S-3, filed on May 12, 2015, File No. 333-204093, and is incorporated herein by reference.) 4.04##Form of Indenture for Debt Securities between Linde plc, as issuer, and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (including form of debt securities and related guarantees) (Filed as Exhibit 4.2 to the Linde plc Form S-3 dated May 3, 2023, Filing No. 001-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.05##Form of Indenture for Debt Securities between Linde Inc., as issuer, and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (including form of debt securities and related guarantees) (Filed as Exhibit 4.3 to the Linde plc Form S-3 dated May 3, 2023, Filing No.001-38730, and incorporated herein by reference).


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4.06##Form of Indenture for Debt Securities between Linde Finance B.V., as issuer, and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (including form of debt securities and related guarantees) (Filed as Exhibit 4.4 to the Linde plc Form S-3 dated May 3, 2023, Filing No. 001-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.07##Supplemental Indenture, dated as of March 1, 2023, by and among the Company, Linde Inc., Linde GmbH and U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association (as successor in interest to U.S. Bank National Association), as trustee, to that certain indenture, dated as of July 15, 1992, by and among Linde Inc. and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (Filed as Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on March 1, 2023, File No. 001-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.08##Supplemental Indenture, dated as of March 1, 2023, by and among the Company, Linde Inc., Linde GmbH and U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association (as successor in interest to U.S. Bank National Association), as trustee, to that certain indenture, dated as of August 10, 2020, by and among Linde Inc., the Predecessor and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee(Filed as Exhibit 4.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on March 1, 2023, File No. 001-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.09##Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 3, 2019, among Linde plc, Praxair, Inc., Linde AG and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (Filed as Exhibit 4.2 to the Linde plc Form 8-K dated September 6, 2019, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.10##Guarantee and Negative Pledge of Linde plc dated May 11, 2020 (Filed as Exhibit 4.3 to the Linde plc Form 8-K dated May 26, 2020, Filing No.1-38730, and is incorporated herein by reference). 4.11##Upstream Guarantee to Linde plc provided by Linde GmbH dated May 11, 2020 (filed as Exhibit 4.4 to Linde plc’s Current Report on Form 8-K dated May 26, 2020, Filing No. 001-38730, and is incorporated hereby by reference) 4.12##Upstream Guarantee to Linde plc provided by Linde Inc. dated May 11, 2020 (filed as Exhibit 4.5 to Linde plc’s Current Report on Form 8-K dated May 26, 2020, Filing No. 001-38730, and is incorporated hereby by reference) 4.13##Amended and Restated Fiscal Agency Agreement, dated May 4, 2023, among Linde plc, as Issuer, and Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, as Fiscal Agent and Paying Agent (Filed as Exhibit 4.6 to the Linde plc Form 8-K, dated June 12, 2023, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference.) 4.14##Fiscal Agency Agreement, dated May 11, 2020, among Linde plc, as Issuer and as Guarantor, Linde Finance B.V., as Issuer, and Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, as Fiscal Agent and Paying Agent (Filed as Exhibit 4.6 to the Linde plc Form 8-K dated May 26. 2020, Filing No 1-37830, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.15##Indenture, dated as of August 10, 2020, among Praxair, Inc., Linde plc and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (Filed as Exhibit 4.1 to the Linde plc Form 8-K dated August 10, 2020, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.16##Amended and Restated Fiscal Agency Agreement, dated August 3, 2021, among Linde plc, as Issuer and as Guarantor, Linde Finance B.V., as Issuer, and Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, as Fiscal Agent and Paying Agent (Filed as Exhibit 4.6 to Linde plc 's current report on Form 8-K, dated September 30, 2021, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 4.17##Copies of the agreements related to long-term debt which are not required to be filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K will be furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission upon request. *10##Form of Non-Employee Director Restricted Stock Unit Award Under the 2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.0e to Linde plc's 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and is incorporated herein by reference). 10.01##Amended and Restated Five Year Credit Agreement, dated as of December 7, 2022, among Linde plc, certain of its subsidiaries parties thereto as borrowers, the lenders party thereto and Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent.(Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Linde plc's current report on Form 8-K, dated December 8, 2022, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference) 10.02##364-Day Credit Agreement, dated as of December 6, 2023, among Linde plc, the Subsidiary Borrowers, certain Subsidiary Guarantors, the lenders party thereto and Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent.(Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Linde plc's current report on Form 8-K, dated December 6, 2023, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference) *10.03##2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan, Effective as of July 26, 2021 (Filed as Exhibit 10.01 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.03a##Form of Transferable Stock Option Award Under the 2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.01 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference).


LIN Table of Contents

*10.03b##Form of Restricted Stock Unit Award Under the 2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.02 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.03c##Form of Performance Share Unit Award Under the 2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan with Return on Capital performance metrics (Filed as Exhibit 10.03 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.03d##Form of Performance Share Unit Award Under the 2021 Linde plc Long Term Incentive Plan with Total Shareholder Return performance metrics (Filed as Exhibit 10.04 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.04##Linde plc Annual Variable Compensation Plan effective January 1, 2019 (Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on January 25, 2019, File No. 1-38730, and is incorporated hereby by reference). *10.05##Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan A effective January 1, 2008 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05a to Praxair, Inc.'s 2008 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.05a##First amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan A effective January 1, 2010 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05b to Praxair, Inc.'s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.05b##Second Amendment to Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan A effective February 28, 2017, (Filed as Exhibit 10.05c to Praxair, Inc.'s 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and is incorporated hereby by reference). *10.05c##Third Amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan A effective December 1, 2017 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05m to Praxair, Inc.'s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, File No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference). *10.05d##Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B amended and restated effective December 31, 2007 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05b to Praxair, Inc.'s 2008 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.05e##First amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B effective January 1, 2010 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05d to Praxair, Inc.'s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.05f##Second Amendment to Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B effective July 1, 2012 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05e to Praxair Inc.’s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.05g##Third Amendment to Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B effective February 28, 2017, (Filed as Exhibit 10.05g to Praxair, Inc.’s 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference). *10.05h##Fourth Amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B effective December 1, 2017 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05l to Praxair, Inc.’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, File No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference). *10.06##Praxair, Inc. Equalization Benefit Plan amended and restated effective December 31, 2007 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05c to Praxair, Inc.’s 2008 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.06a##First amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Equalization Benefit Plan effective January 1, 2010 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05f to Praxair Inc.’s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.06b##Second Amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Equalization Benefit Plan effective February 28, 2017,(Filed as Exhibit 10.05j to Praxair, Inc.'s 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference). *10.06c##Third Amendment to the Praxair, Inc. Equalization Benefit Plan effective December 1, 2017 (Filed as Exhibit 10.05k to Praxair, Inc.’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, File No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference). *10.06d##Linde Inc. 2018 Equalization Benefit Plan, Amended and Restated effective September 1, 2020 (Filed as Exhibit 10.5 to Linde plc's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.06e##Linde Inc. 2018 Supplemental Retirement Income Plan A, Amended and Restated effective September 1, 2020 (Filed as Exhibit 10.3 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference).


LIN Table of Contents

*10.06f##Linde Inc. 2018 Supplemental Retirement Income Plan B, Amended and Restated effective September 1, 2020 (Filed as Exhibit 10.4 to Linde plc's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.07##Praxair, Inc. Director’s Fees Deferral Plan amended and restated effective January 26, 2010 (Filed as Exhibit 10.06 to Praxair Inc.’s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.08##Linde Compensation Deferral Program Amended and Restated effective September 1, 2020 (Filed as Exhibit 10.2 to Linde plc's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020. Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.09##First Amendment to the Linde Compensation Deferral Program effective April 1, 2021. (Filed as Exhibit 10.01 to Linde plc’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. Filing No. 1-38730 and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10##Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 4.03 to Praxair, Inc.'s Form S-8, filed on October 31, 2018, File No. 333-228084, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10a##First Amendment, dated as of April 25, 2017, to the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.01 to Praxair, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, Filing No. 1-11037, and is incorporated herein by reference). *10.10b##Second Amendment dated September 8, 2020 to the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Linde plc's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10c##Form of Standard Option Award under the 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.22 to Praxair, Inc.'s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10d##Form of Transferable Option Award under the 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan (Filed as Exhibit 10.23 to Praxair, Inc.'s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10e##Form of Transferable Option Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants made in 2015-2017 (Filed as Exhibit 10.26 to Praxair, Inc.'s 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10f##Form of Transferable Option Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants made in 2018 (Filed as Exhibit 10.26a to Praxair, Inc.’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, File No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10g##Form of Restricted Stock Unit Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants made in 2018 (Filed as Exhibit 10.27a to Praxair, Inc.’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, File No. 1-11037, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10h##Form of Non-Employee Director Restricted Stock Unit Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants made in 2019 and thereafter (Filed as Exhibit 10.10i to Linde plc's 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10i##Form of Transferable Option Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants beginning in 2019 (Filed as Exhibit 10.11L to Linde plc’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10j##Form of Restricted Stock Unit Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants beginning in 2019 (Filed as Exhibit 10.11M to Linde plc’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10k##Form of Performance Share Unit Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants beginning in 2019 with Return on Capital performance metrics (Filed as Exhibit 10.11N to Linde plc’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.10l##Form of Performance Share Unit Award under the Amended and Restated 2009 Praxair, Inc. Long Term Incentive Plan for grants beginning in 2019 with Total Shareholder Return performance metrics (Filed as Exhibit 10.11O to Linde plc’s 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.11##Pension Agreement among Linde AG, Linde Holding GmbH and Mr. Sanjiv Lamba, dated December 20, 2019 (Filed as Exhibit 10.13a to Linde plc's 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Filing No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference).


LIN Table of Contents

10.12##Offer Letter between Linde plc and Sanjiv Lamba dated November 12, 2021 (Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Linde plc’s current report on Form 8-K dated November 18, 2021, File No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). 10.13##Nondisclosure, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement between Linde Inc. and Sanjiv Lamba dated as of November 7, 2021 (Filed as Exhibit 10.2 to Linde plc’s current report on Form 8-K dated November 18, 2021, File No. 1-38730, and incorporated herein by reference). *10.14##Form of Linde plc Director Indemnification Agreement (Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on October 31, 2018, File No. 333-218485, and incorporated herein by reference). 21.01##Subsidiaries of Linde plc 23.01##Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. 31.01##Rule 13a-14(a) Certification 31.02##Rule 13a-14(a) Certification 32.01##Section 1350 Certification (such certifications are furnished for the information of the Commission and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act). 32.02##Section 1350 Certification (such certifications are furnished for the information of the Commission and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act). 97.1##Linde plc Executive Clawback Policy adopted by the Board of Directors of Linde plc on October 23, 2023. 101.INS##XBRL Instance Document: The XBRL Instance Document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document. 101.SCH##XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema 101.CAL##XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase 101.LAB##XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase 101.PRE##XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase 101.DEF##XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase


LIN Table of Contents

Copies of exhibits incorporated by reference can be obtained from the SEC and are located in SEC File No. 1-11037.


LIN Table of Contents

* Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.


LIN Table of Contents

** Certain schedules or similar attachments have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. The Registrant agrees to furnish supplemental copies of any of the omitted schedules or attachments upon request by the SEC.


LIN FORM 10-K SUMMARY

None.


LIN Linde plc and Subsidiaries

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized. ####Linde plc ####(Registrant) Date: February 28, 2024##By:##/s/ KELCEY E. HOYT ####Kelcey E. Hoyt Chief Accounting Officer


LIN Linde plc and Subsidiaries

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities indicated on February 28, 2024. /s/ STEPHEN F. ANGEL##/s/ SANJIV LAMBA##/s/ MATTHEW J. WHITE Stephen F. Angel Chairman##Sanjiv Lamba Chief Executive Officer and Director##Matthew J. White Chief Financial Officer /s/ PROF. DDR. ANN-KRISTIN ACHLIETNER##/s/ ROBERT L. WOOD##/s/ DR. THOMAS ENDERS Ann-Kristin Achleitner Director##Robert L. Wood Director##Thomas Enders Director /s/ JOSEF KAESER##/s/ DR. VICTORIA OSSADNIK##/s/ ALBERTO WEISSER Josef Kaeser Director##Victoria Ossadnik Director##Alberto Weisser Director /s/ PROF. DR. MARTIN H. RICHENHAGEN##/s/ HUGH GRANT## Martin Richenhagen Director##Hugh Grant Director##


MSFT Note About Forward-Looking Statements

This report includes estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives, and expected operating results that are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements may appear throughout this report, including the following sections: “Business” (Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-K), “Risk Factors” (Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K), and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” (Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K). These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. We describe risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially in “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” (Part II, Item 7A of this Form 10-K). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.


MSFT Embracing Our Future

Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world. We are creating the platforms and tools, powered by artificial intelligence (“AI”), that deliver better, faster, and more effective solutions to support small and large business competitiveness, improve educational and health outcomes, grow public-sector efficiency, and empower human ingenuity. From infrastructure and data, to business applications and collaboration, we provide unique, differentiated value to customers.


MSFT Embracing Our Future

In a world of increasing economic complexity, AI has the power to revolutionize many types of work. Microsoft is now innovating and expanding our portfolio with AI capabilities to help people and organizations overcome today’s challenges and emerge stronger. Customers are looking to unlock value from their digital spend and innovate for this next generation of AI, while simplifying security and management. Those leveraging the Microsoft Cloud are best positioned to take advantage of technological advancements and drive innovation. Our investment in AI spans the entire company, from Microsoft Teams and Outlook, to Bing and Xbox, and we are infusing generative AI capability into our consumer and commercial offerings to deliver copilot capability for all services across the Microsoft Cloud.


MSFT Embracing Our Future

We’re committed to making the promise of AI real – and doing it responsibly. Our work is guided by a core set of principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability.


MSFT What We Offer

Founded in 1975, we develop and support software, services, devices, and solutions that deliver new value for customers and help people and businesses realize their full potential.


MSFT What We Offer

We offer an array of services, including cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, services, platforms, and content, and we provide solution support and consulting services. We also deliver relevant online advertising to a global audience.


MSFT What We Offer

Our products include operating systems, cross-device productivity and collaboration applications, server applications, business solution applications, desktop and server management tools, software development tools, and video games. We also design and sell devices, including PCs, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, other intelligent devices, and related accessories.


MSFT The Ambitions That Drive Us

To achieve our vision, our research and development efforts focus on three interconnected ambitions: •Reinvent productivity and business processes. •Build the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge platform. •Create more personal computing.


MSFT Reinvent Productivity and Business Processes

At Microsoft, we provide technology and resources to help our customers create a secure, productive work environment. Our family of products plays a key role in the ways the world works, learns, and connects.


Our growth depends on securely delivering continuous innovation and advancing our leading productivity and collaboration tools and services, including Office 365, Dynamics 365, and LinkedIn. Microsoft 365 brings together Office 365, Windows, and Enterprise Mobility + Security to help organizations empower their employees with AI-backed tools that unlock creativity, increase collaboration, and fuel innovation, all the while enabling compliance coverage and data protection. Microsoft Teams is a comprehensive platform for work, with meetings, calls, chat, collaboration, and business process automation. Microsoft Viva is an employee experience platform that brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights. Microsoft 365 Copilot combines next-generation AI with business data in the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 applications.


Together with the Microsoft Cloud, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, and our AI offerings bring a new era of collaborative applications that optimize business functions, processes, and applications to better serve customers and employees while creating more business value. Microsoft Power Platform is helping domain experts drive productivity gains with low-code/no-code tools, robotic process automation, virtual agents, and business intelligence. In a dynamic labor market, LinkedIn is helping professionals use the platform to connect, learn, grow, and get hired.


MSFT Build the Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge Platform

As digital transformation and adoption of AI accelerates and revolutionizes more business workstreams, organizations in every sector across the globe can address challenges that will have a fundamental impact on their success. For enterprises, digital technology empowers employees, optimizes operations, engages customers, and in some cases, changes the very core of products and services. We continue to invest in high performance and sustainable computing to meet the growing demand for fast access to Microsoft services provided by our network of cloud computing infrastructure and datacenters.


Our cloud business benefits from three economies of scale: datacenters that deploy computational resources at significantly lower cost per unit than smaller ones; datacenters that coordinate and aggregate diverse customer, geographic, and application demand patterns, improving the utilization of computing, storage, and network resources; and multi-tenancy locations that lower application maintenance labor costs.


The Microsoft Cloud provides the best integration across the technology stack while offering openness, improving time to value, reducing costs, and increasing agility. Being a global-scale cloud, Azure uniquely offers hybrid consistency, developer productivity, AI capabilities, and trusted security and compliance. We see more emerging use cases and needs for compute and security at the edge and are accelerating our innovation across the spectrum of intelligent edge devices, from Internet of Things (“IoT”) sensors to gateway devices and edge hardware to build, manage, and secure edge workloads.


Our AI platform, Azure AI, is helping organizations transform, bringing intelligence and insights to the hands of their employees and customers to solve their most pressing challenges. Organizations large and small are deploying Azure AI solutions to achieve more at scale, more easily, with the proper enterprise-level and responsible AI protections.


We have a long-term partnership with OpenAI, a leading AI research and deployment company. We deploy OpenAI’s models across our consumer and enterprise products. As OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, Azure powers all of OpenAI's workloads. We have also increased our investments in the development and deployment of specialized supercomputing systems to accelerate OpenAI’s research.


Our hybrid infrastructure offers integrated, end-to-end security, compliance, identity, and management capabilities to support the real-world needs and evolving regulatory requirements of commercial customers and enterprises. Our industry clouds bring together capabilities across the entire Microsoft Cloud, along with industry-specific customizations. Azure Arc simplifies governance and management by delivering a consistent multi-cloud and on-premises management platform.


Nuance, a leader in conversational AI and ambient intelligence across industries including healthcare, financial services, retail, and telecommunications, joined Microsoft in 2022. Microsoft and Nuance enable organizations to accelerate their business goals with security-focused, cloud-based solutions infused with AI.


We are accelerating our development of mixed reality solutions with new Azure services and devices. Microsoft Mesh enables organizations to create custom, immersive experiences for the workplace to help bring remote and hybrid workers and teams together.


The ability to convert data into AI drives our competitive advantage. The Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform is a leading cloud data platform that fully integrates databases, analytics, and governance. The platform empowers organizations to invest more time creating value rather than integrating and managing their data. Microsoft Fabric is an end-to-end, unified analytics platform that brings together all the data and analytics tools that organizations need.


GitHub Copilot is at the forefront of AI-powered software development, giving developers a new tool to write code easier and faster so they can focus on more creative problem-solving. From GitHub to Visual Studio, we provide a developer tool chain for everyone, no matter the technical experience, across all platforms, whether Azure, Windows, or any other cloud or client platform.


Windows also plays a critical role in fueling our cloud business with Windows 365, a desktop operating system that’s also a cloud service. From another internet-connected device, including Android or macOS devices, users can run Windows 365, just like a virtual machine.


Additionally, we are extending our infrastructure beyond the planet, bringing cloud computing to space. Azure Orbital is a fully managed ground station as a service for fast downlinking of data.


MSFT Create More Personal Computing

We strive to make computing more personal, enabling users to interact with technology in more intuitive, engaging, and dynamic ways.


MSFT Create More Personal Computing

Windows 11 offers innovations focused on enhancing productivity, including Windows Copilot with centralized AI assistance and Dev Home to help developers become more productive. Windows 11 security and privacy features include operating system security, application security, and user and identity security.


MSFT Create More Personal Computing

Through our Search, News, Mapping, and Browser services, Microsoft delivers unique trust, privacy, and safety features. In February 2023, we launched an all new, AI-powered Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine with Bing Chat to deliver better search, more complete answers, and the ability to generate content. Microsoft Edge is our fast and secure browser that helps protect users’ data. Quick access to AI-powered tools, apps, and more within Microsoft Edge’s sidebar enhance browsing capabilities.


MSFT Create More Personal Computing

We are committed to designing and marketing first-party devices to help drive innovation, create new device categories, and stimulate demand in the Windows ecosystem. The Surface family includes Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and other Surface products.


MSFT Create More Personal Computing

Microsoft continues to invest in gaming content, community, and cloud services. We have broadened our approach to how we think about gaming end-to-end, from the way games are created and distributed to how they are played, including subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and new devices from third-party manufacturers so players can engage across PC, console, and mobile. In January 2022, we announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc., a leader in game development and an interactive entertainment content publisher.


MSFT Our Future Opportunity

We are focused on helping customers use the breadth and depth of the Microsoft Cloud to get the most value out of their digital spend while leading the new AI wave across our solution areas. We continue to develop complete, intelligent solutions for our customers that empower people to be productive and collaborate, while safeguarding businesses and simplifying IT management. Our goal is to lead the industry in several distinct areas of technology over the long term, which we expect will translate to sustained growth. We are investing significant resources in: •Transforming the workplace to deliver new modern, modular business applications, drive deeper insights, and improve how people communicate, collaborate, learn, work, and interact with one another. •Building and running cloud-based services in ways that utilize ubiquitous computing to unleash new experiences and opportunities for businesses and individuals. •Applying AI and ambient intelligence to drive insights, revolutionize many types of work, and provide substantive productivity gains using natural methods of communication. •Tackling security from all angles with our integrated, end-to-end solutions spanning security, compliance, identity, and management, across all clouds and platforms. •Inventing new gaming experiences that bring people together around their shared love for games on any devices and pushing the boundaries of innovation with console and PC gaming. •Using Windows to fuel our cloud business, grow our share of the PC market, and drive increased engagement with our services like Microsoft 365 Consumer, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Edge, Bing, Xbox Game Pass, and more.


MSFT Our Future Opportunity

Our future growth depends on our ability to transcend current product category definitions, business models, and sales motions.


MSFT Commitment to Sustainability

Microsoft’s approach to addressing climate change starts with the sustainability of our own business. In 2020, we committed to being a carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste company by 2030.


MSFT Commitment to Sustainability

In May 2023, we released our Environmental Sustainability Report which looked back at our progress during fiscal year 2022. We continued to make progress on our goals, with our overall emissions declining by 0.5 percent. While our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions continued to decline, Scope 3 emissions increased by 0.5 percent. Scope 3 represented 96 percent of our total emissions, resulting primarily from the operations of our suppliers and the use of our products across our customers.


MSFT Commitment to Sustainability

A few examples of our continued progress include: •Signed new power purchase agreements, bringing our total portfolio of carbon-free energy to over 13.5 gigawatts. •Contracted for water replenishment projects that are estimated to provide more than 15.6 million cubic meters in volumetric water benefit over the lifetime of these projects. •Diverted 12,159 metric tons of solid waste from landfills and incinerators across our direct operational footprint. •Protected 12,270 acres of land in Belize – more than the 11,206 acres of land that we use around the world.


MSFT Commitment to Sustainability

Microsoft has a role to play in developing and advancing new climate solutions, but we recognize that no solution can be offered by any single company, organization, or government. Our approach helps to support the sustainability needs of our customers and the global community. Our Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, an environmental sustainability management platform that includes Microsoft Sustainability Manager, enables organizations to record, report, and reduce their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. These digital tools can interoperate with business systems and unify data intelligence for organizations.


MSFT Addressing Racial Injustice and Inequity

We are committed to addressing racial injustice and inequity in the United States for Black and African American communities and helping improve lived experiences at Microsoft, in employees’ communities, and beyond. Our Racial Equity Initiative focuses on three multi-year pillars, each containing actions and progress we expect to make or exceed by 2025. •Strengthening our communities: using data, technology, and partnerships to help improve the lives of Black and African American people in the United States, including our employees and their communities. •Engaging our ecosystem: using our balance sheet and relationships with suppliers and partners to foster societal change and create new opportunities. •Increasing representation and strengthening inclusion: building on our momentum by adding a $150 million investment to strengthen inclusion and double the number of Black, African American, Hispanic, and Latinx leaders in the United States by 2025.


In fiscal year 2023, we collaborated with partners and worked within neighborhoods and communities to launch and scale a number of projects and programs, including: •Working with 103 unique organizations in 165 cities and counties on our Justice Reform Initiative to empower communities and advance racial equity and fairness in the justice system. •Increasing access to affordable broadband, devices, and digital literacy training across 14 geographies, including 11 cities and three states in the Black Rural south. •Growing our Nonprofit Tech Acceleration for Black and African American Communities program, which uses data, technology, and partnerships to help more than 2,000 local organizations to modernize and streamline operations. •Expanding our Technology Education and Learning Support (“TEALS”) program to reach nearly 400 high schools in 21 communities to increase computer science opportunities for Black and African American students.


We exceeded our 2020 goal to double the percentage of our transaction volumes with Black- and African American-owned financial institutions by 2023. We are also increasing investment activity with Black- and African American-owned asset managers, which now represent 45 percent of our external manager group, enabling increased funds into local communities. We also met our goal of creating a $100 million program focused on mission-driven banks. We enriched our supplier pipeline, achieving our goal to spend $500 million with double the number of Black- and African American-owned suppliers. We also increased the number of identified partners in the Black Partner Growth Initiative by more than 250 percent, surpassing our initial goal.


We have made meaningful progress on representation and inclusion at Microsoft. As of June 2023, we are 93 percent of the way to our 2025 commitment to double the number of Black and African American people managers in the U.S. (below director level), and 107 percent of the way for Black and African American directors (people managers and individual contributors). We are 28 percent of the way for Hispanic and Latinx people managers (below director level) and 74 percent of the way for Hispanic and Latinx directors.


MSFT Investing in Digital Skills

After helping over 80 million jobseekers around the world access digital skilling resources, we introduced a new Skills for Jobs initiative to support a more skills-based labor market, with greater flexibility and accessible learning paths to develop the right skills needed for the most in-demand jobs. Our Skills for Jobs initiative brings together learning resources, certification opportunities, and job-seeker tools from LinkedIn, GitHub, and Microsoft Learn, and is built on data insights drawn from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph.


MSFT Investing in Digital Skills

We also launched a national campaign to help skill and recruit 250,000 people into the cybersecurity workforce by 2025, representing half of the country’s workforce shortage. To that end, we are making curriculum available free of charge to all of the nation’s higher education institutions, providing training for new and existing faculty, and providing scholarships and supplemental resources to 25,000 students. We have expanded the cyber skills initiative to 27 additional countries that show elevated cyberthreat risks coupled with significant gaps in their cybersecurity workforces, partnering with nonprofits and other educational institutions to train the next generation of cybersecurity workers.


MSFT Investing in Digital Skills

Generative AI is creating unparalleled opportunities to empower workers globally, but only if everyone has the skills to use it. To address this, in June 2023 we launched a new AI Skills Initiative to help everyone learn how to harness the power of AI. This includes a new LinkedIn learning pathway offering new coursework on learning the foundations of generative AI. We also launched a new global grant challenge to uncover new ways of training workers on generative AI and are providing greater access to digital learning events and resources for everyone to improve their AI fluency.


MSFT Overview

Microsoft aims to recruit, develop, and retain world-changing talent from a diversity of backgrounds. To foster their and our success, we seek to create an environment where people can thrive and do their best work. We strive to maximize the potential of our human capital resources by creating a respectful, rewarding, and inclusive work environment that enables our global employees to create products and services that further our mission.


MSFT Overview

As of June 30, 2023, we employed approximately 221,000 people on a full-time basis, 120,000 in the U.S. and 101,000 internationally. Of the total employed people, 89,000 were in operations, including manufacturing, distribution, product support, and consulting services; 72,000 were in product research and development; 45,000 were in sales and marketing; and 15,000 were in general and administration. Certain employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements.


MSFT Our Culture

Microsoft’s culture is grounded in growth mindset. This means everyone is on a continuous journey to learn and grow, operating as one company instead of multiple siloed businesses.


MSFT Our Culture

Our employee listening systems enable us to gather feedback directly from our workforce to inform our programs and employee needs globally. Employees participate in our Employee Signals surveys, which cover a variety of topics such as thriving, inclusion, team culture, wellbeing, and learning and development. We also collect Daily Signals employee survey responses, giving us real-time insights into ways we can support our employees. In addition to Employee Signals and Daily Signals surveys, we gain insights through onboarding, exit surveys, internal Viva Engage channels, employee Q&A sessions, and our internal AskHR Service support.


MSFT Our Culture

Diversity and inclusion are core to our business model, and we hold ourselves accountable for driving global systemic change in our workforce and creating an inclusive work environment. We support multiple highly active Employee Resource Groups for women, families, racial and ethnic minorities, military, people with disabilities, and employees who identify as LGBTQIA+, where employees can go for support, networking, and community-building. As described in our 2022 Proxy Statement, annual performance and compensation reviews of our senior leadership team include an evaluation of their contributions to employee culture and diversity. To ensure accountability over time, we publicly disclose our progress on a multitude of workforce metrics including: •Detailed breakdowns of gender, racial, and ethnic minority representation in our employee population, with data by job types, levels, and segments of our business. •Our EEO-1 report (equal employment opportunity). •Disability representation. •Pay equity (see details below).


MSFT Total Rewards and Pay Equity

We develop dynamic, sustainable, market-driven, and strategic programs with the goal of providing a highly differentiated portfolio to attract, reward, and retain top talent and enable our employees to thrive. These programs reinforce our culture and values such as collaboration and growth mindset. Managers evaluate and recommend rewards based on, for example, how well we leverage the work of others and contribute to the success of our colleagues. We monitor pay equity and career progress across multiple dimensions. Our total compensation opportunity is highly differentiated and is market competitive.


MSFT Total Rewards and Pay Equity

In order to manage our costs in a dynamic, competitive environment, in fiscal year 2023 we announced that base salaries of salaried employees would remain at fiscal year 2022 levels. Pay increases continue to be available for rewards-eligible hourly and equivalent employees. We will continue our practice of investing in stock for all rewards-eligible employees, salaried and hourly, and investing in bonuses for all eligible employees.


MSFT Total Rewards and Pay Equity

Since 2016, we have reported on pay equity as part of our annual Diversity and Inclusion report. In 2022, we reported that all racial and ethnic minority employees in the U.S. combined earn $1.008 for every $1.000 earned by their white counterparts, that women in the U.S. earn $1.007 for every $1.000 earned by their counterparts who are men, and that women outside the U.S. earn $1.002 for every $1.000 earned by their counterparts outside the U.S. who are men. In this year’s report, we again expanded our pay equity data beyond the U.S. to report on 61 additional countries (up from 12 last year), representing 99.8% of our global Microsoft workforce.


MSFT Total Rewards and Pay Equity

In addition, we began reporting on unadjusted median pay in our annual report, comparing total pay amounts for all employees regardless of factors such as job title, level, or tenure. For employees who are eligible for rewards, the analysis showed that total pay for women is 89.6% of total pay for men in the U.S. and 86.2% outside of the U.S., and total pay for racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. is 89.9% of total pay for white employees. As we continue to increase representation for women and racial and ethnic minorities at more senior levels, and continue to ensure pay equity for all, the gap between the medians will reduce.