Greif Class A (GEF) Risk Analysis

At October 31, 2024, the carrying value of our goodwill was $1,953.7 million. We may be required to record future impairments of our long-lived assets as we continue to restructure our business. Decisions to sell or close plants could reduce the estimated useful life of an asset group or indicate that the fair value of the asset group is less than the carrying value. We may also experience declines in particular businesses due to competition or other outside forces indicating our long-lived assets are not recoverable. In addition, certain future events and circumstances, including deterioration of market conditions, higher cost of capital, a decline in actual and expected consumption and demand, could result in changes to those assumptions and judgments. Any resulting impairments will impact net income in the period in which the triggering event, such as permanent or sustaining reduction in cash flows, occurs and could be significant, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

In April 2021, we announced a GHG emission reduction target to reduce our absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 28 percent from a 2019 baseline by 2030 as part of our ESG and sustainability strategy. Achievement of this target depends on our execution of operational strategies relating to investments in energy efficient equipment and options to utilize other alternative energy sources. Execution of these strategies and achievements of our 2030 target is subject to risk and uncertainties, many of which are out of our control. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to our ability to execute our strategies and achieve our goals within the currently projected costs and expected timeframes; availability, use and success of on and off-site renewable energy; availability and cost of zero-emissions electric equipment and vehicles; outcome of research efforts and future technology developments such as growing our post-consumer resin product offerings and downgauging our current portfolio; availability of purchasing high quality recycled materials; growing our life cycle services network; the increased cost and availability of virtual power purchase agreements; the long timeline to complete certain sustainability projects; and the impact of acquisitions and divestitures. There are no assurances that we will be able to successfully execute our strategies and achieve our 2030 target. Failure to achieve our target could damage our reputation, customer and investor relationships or our access to financing. Further, given investors' increased focus related to environmental, social and governance matters, such a failure could cause stockholders to reduce their ownership holdings, all of which, in turn could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and reduce our stock price.

We must comply with extensive laws, rules and regulations in the United States, Europe and in each of the countries where we conduct business regarding environmental matters, such as air, soil and water quality and waste disposal. We must also comply with extensive laws, rules and regulations regarding safety, health and corporate social responsibility matters. There can be no assurance that compliance with existing and new laws, rules and regulations will not require significant expenditures. In addition, laws, rules and regulations, as well as the interpretation and administration of such laws and regulations by governmental agencies, can change and restrict or prohibit the manner in which we conduct our current operations, require additional permits to engage in some or all of our current operations, or increase the cost of some or all our operations. For example, the U.S. EPA has indicated potential forthcoming changes to the regulatory framework that may impact our reconditioning business requiring a change to our processes and operations going forward. Such changes could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We are also subject to transportation safety regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Transportation ("DOT") and agencies in other jurisdictions. Both the DOT regulations and standards issued by the United Nations and adopted by various jurisdictions outside the United States set forth requirements related to the transportation of both hazardous and nonhazardous materials in some of our packaging products and subject our Company to random inspections and testing to ensure compliance. Failure to comply could result in fines to us and could affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We are subject to laws, rules and regulations relating to certain raw materials used in our business or present in our products. For example, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ("PFAS") are a group of chemicals that have been manufactured and used in consumer and industrial products since the 1940's. PFAS compounds do not easily degrade and have been shown to accumulate over time in the environment. In the U.S., Europe and other countries where we operate, there is heightened governmental and regulatory scrutiny on PFAS usage in packaging products and its role in the contamination of soil, air and water. Governmental inquiries or requirements involving PFAS could lead to us incurring liability for damages or other costs, civil proceedings, including personal injury claims, class actions, the imposition of fines and penalties, or other remedies, as well as restrictions on or added costs for our business operations going forward. These laws, rules and regulations, as well as investigations and resulting claims by individuals, including class actions, and other businesses, could adversely affect our reputation with our customers generally, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. At the EU-level, many laws and regulations are designed to protect human health and the environment. For example, Directive 2004/35/EC concerns obligations to remedy damages to the environment, which could require us to remediate contamination identified at sites we own or use. Other EU regulations and directives limit pollution from industrial activities, reduce emissions to air, water and soil, protect water resources, reduce waste, promote recycling, reuse or reduction of materials used, achieving a circular economy, protect employee health and safety and regulate the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals. The European Commission published its "Fit for 55" package in July 2021; a collection of legislative proposals and amendments to existing rules aimed at implementing the EU's target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. In addition to existing green taxes on energy use, EU plastic taxes have been introduced. Specifically, there is heightened focus and in some cases a requirement by customers and regulators to use PCR to manufacture more sustainable packaging. If we are unable to effectively source PCR or innovate our current product offerings to meet this demand, this could negatively affect our business and results of operations. In addition, the EU Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation that recently went into force is to be implemented over an 18-month period and imposes new requirements in terms of recycled content, recyclability and reuse from 2030 for some of our products. Failure to comply with these and other laws, or a change in the applicable legal framework, for example the increased enforcement of environmental regulations in the U.S., Europe, China and other countries or customer requirements, could affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, in addition to those of our customers. Our customers in the food and pharmaceutical industry are subject to increasing laws, rules and regulations relating to safety. As a result, customers may demand that changes be made to our products or facilities, as well as other aspects of our production processes, that may require the investment of capital. The failure to comply with these requests could adversely affect our relationships with some customers and result in negative effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The multinational nature of our business subjects us to taxation in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Due to economic and political conditions, tax rates in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change. Our future effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, or changes in tax laws or their interpretation. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has issued proposed guidance which establishes a 15% global minimum tax ("Pillar Two tax"). In December 2022, the EU issued a directive requiring member states to enact a 15% minimum tax into their domestic laws effective for fiscal years beginning on or after December 31, 2023. We do not anticipate the Pillar Two global minimum tax to have a material impact to our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. We will continue to monitor the status of the Pillar Two tax implementation in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Tax laws are complex and subject to varying interpretations. At this time, we believe we are properly reflecting the provision for taxes on income using all current enacted global tax laws in every jurisdiction in which we operate. However, there can be no assurance that our tax positions will not be challenged by relevant tax authorities or that we would be successful in any such challenge.

There is continuing concern that emissions of greenhouse gases ("GHG") and other human activities have or will cause significant changes in weather patterns and increase the frequency or severity of extreme weather events, including droughts, wildfires and flooding. These types of extreme weather events have and may continue to adversely impact us, our suppliers, our customers and their ability to purchase our products and our ability to timely receive appropriate raw materials to manufacture and transport our products on a timely basis. We believe it is likely that the scientific and political attention to issues concerning the extent and causes of climate change will continue, with new and more restrictive legislation regulations and focus on environmental, social and governance ("ESG") initiatives that could affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Foreign, federal, state and local regulatory and legislative bodies have enacted or proposed various legislative and regulatory measures relating to increased transparency and standardization of reporting related to factors that may include climate change, regulating GHG emissions, recycling of plastic materials, and energy policies, including waste tax, and other governmental charges and mandates. In March 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") adopted final rules that, among other things, provide a framework for the reporting of climate-related risks. However, the SEC voluntarily stayed implementation of the final rules pending completion of judicial review. The final rules, to the extent they survive ongoing and possibly additional forthcoming legal challenges, will require us to provide certain climate-related information beginning with our disclosures for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026. As such, the final disclosure requirements and reporting timeline are currently unknown, as is the cost of compliance with the new disclosure requirements in their final form. The State of California has enacted legislation that will require large U.S. companies doing business in California to make broad-based climate-related disclosures starting as early as 2026, and other states are also considering new climate change disclosure requirements. In addition, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ("CSRD") became effective in 2023. CSRD applies to both EU and non-EU in-scope entities and would require them to provide expansive disclosures on various sustainability topics. Reporting obligations will start for fiscal year 2026 with the first publication in fiscal year 2027. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ("CS3D") became effective in July 2024. We are further assessing our obligations under CSRD and CS3D while developing a compliance strategy and beginning to prepare for compliance and expect that compliance could require substantial effort in the future. We will likely need to be prepared to contend with overlapping, yet distinct, climate-related disclosure requirements in multiple jurisdictions. The compliance with foreign, federal, state and local legislation and regulations concerning climate-related disclosures may result in our Company incurring additional costs and capital expenditures, and the failure to comply with such legislation and regulations could result in fines to our Company and could affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We could also face increased costs related to defending and resolving legal claims and other litigation related to climate change and the alleged impact of our operations on climate change. We, along with other companies in many business sectors, including our customers, are considering and implementing ESG and sustainability strategies, specifically ways to reduce GHG emissions. As a result, our customers may request that changes be made to our products or facilities, as well as other aspects of our production processes, that increase costs and may require the investment of capital. The failure to comply with these requests could adversely affect our relationships with some customers, which in turn could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Each of our operating segments operates in highly competitive industries. The most important competitive factors we face are price, quality, customer service and on-time delivery. To the extent any of our competitors become more successful with respect to any of these key competitive factors, we could lose customers and our sales could decline. Moreover, we anticipate that the lower customer demand patterns that we experienced throughout fiscal years 2023 and 2024 will continue on an overall basis through 2025, which may cause our competitors to reduce prices to maintain or increase their sales volumes, which could adversely impact our sales volumes and our margins. In addition, due to the tendency of certain customers to diversify their suppliers, we could be unable to increase or maintain sales volumes with particular customers. Certain of our competitors are substantially larger and have significantly greater financial resources. In addition, some of our products are made from raw materials that are subject to pronounced and at times, rapid price fluctuations, such as metal, which is used in the manufacture of steel drums and containers and intermediate bulk container ("IBC") cages, old corrugated containers ("OCC"), which impacts our paper products, and oil, which in turn affects the price of resin for plastic drums and containers, including IBC bottles. Particularly in well-developed markets in Europe and in the United States, any substantial increases in the supply of industrial packaging resulting from capacity increases, the stockpiling of raw materials or other types of opportunistic behavior by our competitors in a period of high raw materials prices, or price wars, could adversely affect our margins and the profitability of our business. With many of our customers, we have implemented raw material price adjustment mechanisms based on industrial index pricing, however these price adjustment mechanisms lag market price changes and our ability to pass through costs to our customers could take months to realize which in turn could adversely impact our product margins. Although price is a significant basis of competition in our industry, we also compete on the basis of product reliability, the ability to deliver products on a global scale and our reputation for quality and customer service. If we fail to maintain our current standards for product quality, the scope of our distribution capabilities or our customer relationships, our reputation and business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. Negative media reports about us or our businesses, whether accurate or inaccurate, could damage our reputation and relationships with our customers and suppliers, cause customers and suppliers to terminate their relationship with us, or impair our ability to effectively compete, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are a global company with operations in over 35 countries with approximately 37% of our fiscal 2024 sales derived from non-U.S. operations. Management of global operations is complex, and our operations outside the United States are subject to additional risks that may not exist, or may not be as significant, with respect to our operations within the United States. Within our global footprint, we have operations in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. As regards the Eastern Europe region, the length, impact and outcome of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine is highly unpredictable. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict between those two countries have amplified, and may continue to amplify, certain risks to our operations, including increased foreign exchange volatility, disruptions to financial and credit markets, energy supply (specifically in Europe), supply chain disruptions, customer demand, increased risks of cybersecurity incidents, increased costs to ensure compliance with global and local laws and regulations, economic recessions in certain neighboring European countries or globally due to inflationary and other pressures, and delays in the ability, or even the inability, to access cash or earnings from Russia. In addition, the imposition of new or increased sanctions, tariffs, quotas, exchange or price controls, trade barriers or similar restrictions resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could negatively impact our business and operations. In the event that our operations in Russia cease for any reason, that event would result in an impairment charge, as we would not likely generate a fair market return on those assets. In addition, the Russian government has implemented strict currency controls that restrict the movement of capital. This includes limits on the amount of money that can be taken out of the country, directly impacting dividend payments. Although we have been able to pay the de minimus dividends permitted by the Russian government, we have been generally unable to transfer money out of Russia, and do not expect that this will change in 2025. We will continue to monitor the effects of this conflict, including risks that may affect our business, and we will adjust our plans accordingly as the situation progresses. As of October 31, 2024 and the fiscal year then ended, our operations in Russia accounted for approximately 3% of our net sales, approximately 9% of our operating profit and approximately 2% of our total assets. As a result of our general global operations, we are subject to certain risks that could disrupt our operations or force us to incur unanticipated costs or exit a specific country. These risks, which can vary substantially by country, may include economic or political instability, geopolitical events (such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Middle East conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Israel and Yemen, governmental unrest in South Korea, and tensions between China and Taiwan and North Korea and Japan), corruption, social and ethnic unrest, the regulatory environment (including the risks of operating in developing or emerging markets in which there are significant uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforceability of legal requirements), hyperinflation and fluctuations in the value of local currency versus the U.S. dollar, repatriating cash from foreign countries to the U.S., downturns or changes in economic conditions (including in relation to commodity inflation), adverse tax consequences or rulings, nationalization or any change in social, political or labor conditions in any of these countries, or regions impacting matters such as sustainability, environmental regulations and trade policies and agreements. We also have indebtedness, agreements to purchase raw materials and agreements to sell finished products that are denominated in Russian Ruble, Euro, Brazilian Real, Hungarian Forint, Turkish Lira, British Pound and other currencies. Our operating performance is affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates by: - translations into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes of the assets and liabilities of our non-U.S. operations conducted in local currencies; and - gains or losses from transactions conducted in currencies other than the operation's functional currency.

In the conduct of our business, we rely extensively on computer systems, including third-party systems, to collect, use, transmit, store and report data on information systems and interact with customers, vendors and employees. Increased global IT security threats and more sophisticated and targeted computer crime and increased ransomware attacks pose a risk to the security of our systems and networks and third-party systems and networks with our data (including employee and customer data), and the confidentiality, availability and integrity of our data. Despite our security measures, our IT systems and infrastructure may be vulnerable to computer viruses, cyber-attacks, and/or security breaches caused by employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions, with heightened risks due to geopolitical conflicts. These threats also may be further enhanced in frequency or effectiveness through threat actors' use of artificial intelligence technologies, which are becoming more widely adopted and increasingly sophisticated. Any such threat could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. A security breach of our computer systems or third-party systems with our data could interrupt or damage our operations or harm our reputation, or both. In addition, we could be subject to legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information and regulatory penalties if confidential information relating to customers, suppliers, employees or other parties is misappropriated from our computer system or third-party systems with our data. To date, we have seen no material impact on our business or operations from these threats. However, we cannot ensure that our security efforts will prevent unauthorized access or loss of functionality to our or our third-party providers' systems. For further discussion pertaining to cybersecurity strategy and related roles and responsibilities, see Part I, Item 1C of this Form 10-K. The regulatory framework for privacy issues continues to evolve worldwide with increased regulatory and enforcement focus on data protection in the U.S. and abroad, and an actual or alleged failure to comply with applicable U.S. or foreign data protection laws, regulations or other data protection standards in the countries in which we do business may expose us to litigation (including in some instances, class action litigation), fines, sanctions or other penalties, which could harm our business reputation, and could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The data privacy landscape is continuously expanding and has significantly increased responsibilities for companies collecting, using and processing personal data, as well as significantly increased penalties for noncompliance of security and data breach obligations, specifically in the EU under the General Data Protection Regulation, in China under the Personal Information Protection Law, and in Brazil under the General Personal Data Protection Law, in addition to U.S. privacy laws in numerous states. Many of these regulations are complex and their interpretation, application and enforcement are often uncertain. This regulatory and enforcement environment is increasingly challenging and may present material obligations and risks to our business, including significantly expanded compliance burdens and enforcement risks and could result in substantial costs and a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our business is dependent upon our ability to execute, in an efficient and uninterrupted fashion, necessary business functions, such as accessing key business data, financial information, order processing, invoicing and the operation of IT dependent manufacturing equipment. A significant portion of the communication between our employees, customers and suppliers around the world depends on the reliability of our IT systems. A significant interruption or major failure of the Internet, a shut-down of or inability to access one or more of our facilities, a power outage, unavailability, obsolescence or a failure of one or more of our IT, telecommunications or other systems would substantially impair our ability to perform daily functions on a timely basis and could result in a material adverse impact on our operations and adversely affect our sales. Initiatives intended to make our cost structure, business processes and systems more efficient may not achieve the expected benefits and could inadvertently have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows. We continuously seek to make our cost structure and business processes more efficient, including by implementing changes to our business information systems. These efforts may involve a significant investment of financial and human resources and significant changes to our current operating processes. We have established a business continuity plan in an effort to ensure the continuation of core business operations in the event that normal operations could not be performed due to a catastrophic event. While we continue to test and assess our business continuity plan to ensure it meets the needs of our core business operations and addresses multiple business interruption events, there is no assurance that core business operations could be performed upon the occurrence of such an event which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.