Climate change continues to receive attention worldwide. Many scientists, legislators and others attribute global warming to increased levels of greenhouse gases, which has led to significant legislative and regulatory efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") has published findings that emissions of carbon dioxide,methane, and other greenhouse gases ("GHGs") present a danger to public health and the environment because emissions of such gases are, according to the EPA, contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and other climate changes. Based on these findings, the EPA has implemented regulations that require reporting of GHG emissions, or that limit emissions of GHGs from certain mobile or stationary sources. In addition, certain states have already taken legal measures to reduce emissions of GHGs, primarily through the development of GHG inventories, GHG permitting and/or regional GHG cap-and-trade programs. It is uncertain whether, when and in what form a federal mandatory carbon dioxide emissions reduction program, or other state programs, may be adopted. These and other existing or potential international initiatives and regulations could affect our operations. To the extent our customers, particularly our energy and industrial customers, are subject to any of these or other similar proposed or newly enacted laws and regulations, we are exposed to risks that the additional costs by customers to comply with such laws and regulations could impact their ability or desire to continue to operate at similar levels in certain jurisdictions as historically seen or as currently anticipated, which could negatively impact their demand for our products and services. As customers become concerned about the environmental impact of their purchases, if we fail to keep up with changing regulations or innovate or operate in ways that minimize the energy use of our products or operations, customers may choose more energy efficient or sustainable alternatives. These actions could also increase costs associated with our operations, including costs for raw materials and transportation. We may also be subject to consumer lawsuits or enforcement actions by governmental authorities if our sustainability claims relating to product marketing are inaccurate. It is uncertain what new laws will be enacted, and therefore we cannot predict the potential impact of such laws on our future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The laws and regulations regarding sustainability disclosures and requirements, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in the European Union and various U.S. state requirements such as in California, continue to evolve and could have an adverse effect on our operations and the costs of compliance with, and the other burdens imposed by, these and other laws or regulatory actions may increase our operational costs.
As part of our strategy regarding environmental, climate change and sustainability matters, we have set and may adjust corporate responsibility strategic targets or set additional targets aimed at reducing our impact on the environment and climate change and/or targets relating to other sustainability matters. In addition, as a leading provider of water treatment solutions, our business strategy includes positioning our products and services as sustainable solutions. Actions we take to achieve our targets or strategy could result in increased costs to our operations. We may not be able to achieve such targets or our desired impact, and any future investments we make in furtherance of achieving such targets and our strategy may not meet investor expectations or standards regarding sustainability performance. Moreover, we may determine that it is in the best interest of our company and our shareholders to prioritize other business, social, governance or sustainable investments over the achievement of our current targets based on economic, regulatory and social factors, business strategy or feedback from investors or other stakeholders. In addition, investors and other stakeholders are increasingly focused on these matters, and as stakeholder expectations and standards are evolving, we may not be able to sufficiently respond to these evolving standards and expectations or investors may not view our products and services as sustainable solutions. Furthermore, we could be criticized for the accuracy or completeness of the disclosure of our corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives. If we are unable to meet our targets or successfully implement our strategy or our corporate responsibility and sustainability reporting is inaccurate or incomplete, then we could suffer from reputational damage and incur adverse reaction from investors and other stakeholders, which could adversely impact the perception of our brand and our products and services by current and potential investors and customers, which could in turn adversely impact our business, results of operations or financial condition.