Sustainable Development Report 2019 He N2 Making H₂ Ar our world Ne more O₂ productive H₂ Xe Kr O₂ O₂ H₂ 2 Linde 2019 Sustainable Development Report Linde 2019 Sustainable Development Report 3 Table of Contents Message from our Chief Executive Officer.............................................................................................................................................04 Message from our Chief Sustainability Officer ......................................................................................................................................06 About Linde ............................................................................................................................................................................................08 Sustainable Development Targets 2028 ..............................................................................................................................................12 Climate Change - Challenge & Opportunity ..........................................................................................................................................16 Performance Towards Targets ................................................................................................................................................................21 Governance ............................................................................................................................................................................................28 Engaging Stakeholders ..........................................................................................................................................................................31 Additional General Disclosures ..............................................................................................................................................................34 Economic Topics .....................................................................................................................................................................................48 Environmental Topics .............................................................................................................................................................................55 Social Topics ...........................................................................................................................................................................................68 Assurance ...............................................................................................................................................................................................96 GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards Content Index .......................................................................................................................102 GRI References This report has been prepared in Accordance with GRI Standards: Core Option. GRI Standards are referenced throughout and an Index is provided on page 102. Forward Looking Statement This document contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are identified by terms and phrases such as: anticipate, believe, intend, estimate, expect, continue, should, could, may, plan, project, predict, will, potential, forecast, and similar expressions. They are based on management’s reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date the statements are made but involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the performance of stock markets generally; developments in worldwide and national economies and other international events and circumstances, including trade conflicts and tariffs; changes in foreign currencies and in interest rates; the cost and availability of electric power, natural gas and other raw materials; the ability to achieve price increases to offset cost increases; catastrophic events including natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics, such as COVID-19, and acts of war and terrorism; the ability to attract, hire, and retain qualified personnel; the impact of changes in financial accounting standards; the impact of changes in pension plan liabilities; the impact of tax, environmental, healthcare and other legislation and government regulation in jurisdictions in which the company operates; the cost and outcomes of investigations, litigation and regulatory proceedings; the impact of potential unusual or non-recurring items; continued timely development and market acceptance of new products and applications; the impact of competitive products and pricing; future financial and operating performance of major customers and industries served; the impact of information technology system failures, network disruptions and breaches in data security; and the effectiveness and speed of integrating new acquisitions into the business. These risks and uncertainties may cause actual future results or circumstances to differ materially from accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, International Financial Reporting Standards or adjusted projections, estimates or other forward-looking statements. Linde plc assumes no obligation to update or provide revisions to any forward-looking statement in response to changing circumstances. The above listed risks and uncertainties are further described in Item 1A. Risk Factors in Linde plc’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC on March 2, 2020 and in Item 1A. of Linde plc's Form 10-Q for the period ending March 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on May 7, 2020, which should be reviewed carefully. Please consider Linde plc’s forward-looking statements in light of those risks. 4 Linde 2019 Sustainable Development Report Message from our CEO 102-14 “Linde’s mission of making our world more productive includes resource efficiency – making more with less – and being a good steward of the environment.” Dear Stakeholder, At Linde, environmental and social responsibility are deeply rooted standing up, for each other within Linde and in our communities – in the way we do business globally. With a strong presence in all now and always. key geographies, Linde has a diverse and balanced global portfolio and a sound capital structure which allows us to pursue quality Making a Difference opportunities for future growth. In the years to come, Linde will further our commitment to Sustainability through our new 10-year Climate Change targets. Our I am convinced that our unwavering commitment to our values commitments include making important investments in technology of safety, inclusion, integrity, accountability and community, and innovation for decarbonization and lowering our greenhouse combined with a disciplined and resilient business model and our gas emissions intensity by 35 percent by 2028. Hydrogen will play talented employees around the world, will ensure our success well a key role in achieving the decarbonization targets. With leading into the future. positions and technologies in the fields of hydrogen mobility, clean hydrogen and carbon capture, Linde is uniquely positioned to ESG Leadership support customers and industry partners in the transition to a clean Reflecting over the past year, I am very proud of our 80,000 hydrogen economy. employees who delivered exceptional results and enabled us to become the only chemical company named to the Dow Jones Linde will continue to seek solutions that meet some of the world’s Sustainability Index for 17 consecutive years. In 2019, we helped greatest challenges. This is how we live our mission of making our customers avoid 100 million MT of CO2 emissions and enabled our world more productive – today, tomorrow and into the future. an estimated 290 million people to have access to safe drinking This year’s report illustrates some of the achievements that water through our environmental technologies and our gases demonstrate our ongoing commitment to this mission. portfolio. With respect to our commitment to sustainability through resource efficiency, 35 percent of the total energy procured by Linde operations worldwide was sourced from low-carbon and Stay Safe! renewable power - in the UK and Brazil that share was almost 100 percent. A New Reality As I write this letter, our world is facing an unprecedented global health crisis and related social and economic distress. The COVID-19 pandemic requires us to deal with a new reality. In addition to the social and health consequences, large-scale economic uncertainty has exposed systemic inequity in our society. At Linde, we value Steve Angel inclusion which means we are committed to showing up, and Chief Executive Officer Linde 2019 Sustainable Development Report 5 Linde Applications Enable 2.7x Carbon Productivity Linde is a company in the business of resource transformation in a world that is dealing with climate change. Below are our 2019 actual results as reported by Linde plc entities. We demonstrate that a subset of Linde applications allow our customers or their end-users to avoid more than twice the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of all Linde operations. In 2019, total GHG emissions were 37.5 million MT CO2e, versus 100 million MT CO2e avoided by our customers or end-users, from several applications shown below - 2.7x the GHG benefit created than depleted. In 2019, a subset of Linde applications enabled more than twice the GHG benefit than