INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO NEW

EMPLOYEES

As of December 31, 2023, we have approximately 39,000 employees, nearly 33,000 of whom are located in the United States. Of our U.S. employees, 22,900 are hourly, with unions representing approximately 14,200 employees. Of this number, 10,600 are represented by the United Steelworkers union ("USW").

International Paper, the USW, and several other unions have entered into four master agreements covering various U.S. mills and converting facilities. These master agreements cover several specific items, including wages, select benefit programs, successorship, employment security, and health and safety. Individual facilities continue to have local agreements for other subjects not covered by the master agreements. If local facility agreements are not successfully negotiated at the time of expiration, under the terms of the master agreements the local

contracts will automatically renew with the same terms in effect. The master agreements cover the majority of our union represented mills and converting facilities. In addition, International Paper is party to a master agreement with District Council 2, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, covering additional converting facilities.

SAFETY AND WELLBEING

At International Paper, safety is core to who we are and how we operate. To achieve this, we are cultivating a resilient safety culture where every team member is empowered to stop work they believe is unsafe. We work tirelessly to anticipate and address unexpected events by incorporating layers of protection, continuously enhancing our systems and engaging all team members in learning events to prevent injuries before they take place. Our Vision 2030 goal to create a 100% injury-free workplace for our team members and contractors fuels our commitment from Madrid to Memphis and everywhere in between.

We also care deeply about the mental, emotional, physical and professional wellbeing of our employees by providing an Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”) at no cost to employees and family members. Our EAP offers coaching and counseling sessions aimed at problem solving, achieving goals, and dealing with stress and anxiety management through resiliency. We embrace a holistic wellness approach providing employees with resources on incorporating wellness habits into their daily lives.

HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

The attraction, retention and development of our employees is critical to our success. We create a positive employee experience that begins at onboarding. Our Human Resources Talent Management Team hosts online Global New Employee Orientation for employees and each business conducts onsite new hire integration training unique to its business and/or facility. This experience continues through our continuous learning, development and performance management programs. We provide continuing education courses that are relevant to our industry and job functions within the Company, including both instructor-led and online training through our Learning Management System (“LMS”) MyLearning platform. Across the enterprise in 2023, employees completed 4.6 million learning activities through our platform.

In addition, we have created learning paths for specific positions that are designed to encourage an employee’s advancement and growth within our organization, such as our REACH (Recruit, Engage,

Align College Hires) program and Global Manufacturing Training Initiative programs. Through REACH we recruit and develop early-career engineers and safety professionals for our U.S. mills, preparing them to become future leaders. We invest in the growth and development of our employees by providing a multi-dimensional approach to learning that empowers, intellectually grows and professionally develops our employees. Our Global Manufacturing Training Initiative provides training services to hourly operations and maintenance employees in our mills in a standardized and structured manner. On the converting side of our business, more than 350 front line and future leaders participated in our multi-day in-person Leadership Application and Professional Development and Manufacturing Management Associate Programs during 2023.

We develop leaders through our IP Leadership Institute offering a broad range of LMS virtual and in person resources, courses and workshops for individual contributors, people leaders and teams. We also offer peer mentoring and leadership and career development training to support and develop our employees.

We help our employees better themselves by offering tuition reimbursement to employees to pursue additional education to prepare for other positions at the Company. We also provide student loan assistance to help employees repay qualified student loans. These resources provide employees with the skills and support they need to achieve their career goals, build management skills and become leaders within our Company.

The labor market for both hourly and salaried workers continues to be increasingly competitive. For additional information regarding risks related to the current labor market, see Item 1A. Risk Factors –WE OPERATE IN A CHALLENGING MARKET FOR TALENT AND MAY FAIL TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN QUALIFIED PERSONNEL, INCLUDING KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

We view compensation and benefits as part of how we attract, engage and retain our talented workforce. We do so by rewarding performance while ensuring competitive compensation in our local markets around the world. We continually evaluate our compensation and benefits so that we offer optimal compensation programs and remain a leading employer of choice in the areas in which we operate.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

In 2023, we added Include and Engage as a new core value because we believe in an inclusive workforce, where employees of diverse backgrounds and perspectives are represented, engaged and empowered to contribute innovative ideas, influence decisions, and bring their authentic selves to work. While this core value is new, our efforts around diversity and inclusion have been in place for more than 20 years. Looking forward to projected workforce demographic changes over the next decade, and guided by our commitment to equal employment opportunity for all, our stated Vision 2030 goal is to achieve 30% overall representation of women and 50% women in salaried positions, 30% racial and ethnic minority representation in U.S. salaried positions, and to implement regional diversity plans in non-U.S. locations. To foster a more diverse and inclusive culture, the Company is focused on promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion that leverages the talents of all employees, and implementing practices that attract, recruit and retain a broad diversity of talent.

Our Global Diversity and Inclusion Council, comprised of senior leaders in the Company, is committed to creating and promoting a culture of inclusion, collaboration, engagement, equity and diversity. The Company supports enterprise-wide employee-led networking circles (“ENCs”) that are open to all employees and provide a forum to communicate and exchange ideas, build a network of relationships across the Company, and pursue personal and professional development, such as the Women in International Paper ("WIP") ENC, Black Employee Networking Circle ("BEN"), LGBTQ+ & Allies ENC ("IPride") and a Veterans ENC ("iVets"). Each ENC is sponsored by Company leaders and aligned with our core values and business objectives. Through annual initiatives, ENCs offer development opportunities, encourage cross-collaboration and connection with individuals throughout the Company, and engage allies. Some facilities and functions also have their own ENCs.

In 2023 our ENCs executed on 30 initiatives aimed at strengthening our diversity and inclusion culture. As examples of our efforts, in 2023, IPride hosted a workshop, “Pride 101,” where speakers educated attendees on topics such as history of the LGBTQ+ movement, and offered guidance to allies on how to support LGBTQ+ colleagues. Similarly, BEN sponsored a Juneteenth event, iVets partnered with our Community Engagement team to sponsor Wreaths Across America, and WIP worked with our communications team to recognize women working in our facilities. We also recognize Diversity & Inclusion awareness months, conduct training and host D&I workshops and team-level courses which further our diversity and inclusion goals.

We have also developed a Diversity Acquisition Framework for U.S. colleges and universities to guide our enterprise diversity and inclusion efforts as we strive to hire the best talent by accessing all the available talent using broad recruiting parameters through inclusive and legally compliant employment practices.

The make-up of our Board of Directors and Senior Leadership Team ("SLT") reflects our efforts to seek qualified board candidates with diverse backgrounds and perspectives including, but not limited to, such factors as race, ethnicity and gender.

At December 31, 2023, the composition of our Board of Directors, as noted below, reflects those efforts and the importance of diversity:

•27% women, 27% ethnically diverse, 18% African-American and

•75% of the Board of Director’s standing committees are chaired by women.

Our Senior Leadership Team is currently comprised of senior vice presidents who oversee crucial functions and business units within the Company and is 30 percent women as of December 31, 2023.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

We encourage our employees to support the communities in which they live and in which the Company operates. Our community engagement efforts extend across the globe and support social and educational needs. To that end, in 2023 we invested approximately $20 million to address critical needs in the communities in which we work and live. Our Vision 2030 goal is to strengthen the resilience of our communities, in numerous ways, and improve the lives of 100 million people in our communities in numerous ways, including the support of education, reducing hunger, promoting health and wellness and supporting disaster relief.

One way we lead in promoting health and wellness is through our award-winning Fighting Period Poverty in Our Communities program. Period poverty is lack of access to period products and education and affects at least 500 million women and girls globally. Period poverty leads to school truancy, reproductive issues, health risks and unnecessary shame. Through this program, we collaborate with partners to create

awareness of period poverty globally and provide period care kits to people who need them most.

In 2022, the Company was honored with the American Forest & Paper Association's (“AF&PA”) “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Sustainability Award” for our “Ending Period Poverty” program. In 2023, we hosted 62 menstrual product kit packing events in nine countries donating more than 32,000 menstrual product kits to people across the world.

Also in 2023, the Company was awarded a Leadership in Sustainability Award for Resilient U.S. Forests by the AF&PA for its innovative approach to promote forest bird awareness and conservation within the forest product supply chain in partnership with the American Bird Conservancy. In 2024, we received the Grassroots Innovation Award from the Public Affairs Council. Additionally, we are proud to have been named among the world’s most ethical companies by Ethisphere for 17 consecutive years.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, PATENTS, AND TRADEMARKS

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark, design, trade secret, and internet domain laws to establish and protect our intellectual property rights in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions. The Company’s practice is to file applications and obtain patents for products and services we believe improve our value proposition to customers. We maintain a portfolio of trademarks and service marks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in certain foreign jurisdictions, unregistered trademarks, licenses, and internet domain names that we consider important to the marketing of our products and business. These trademarks and service marks include those entity and product names that appear in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our logo, as well as names of other products and marketing-related taglines. Our registered intellectual property has various expiration dates. The Company also relies on trade secret and other confidential information protection for manufacturing processes, product specifications, formulae, analyses, market information, forecasts, and other competitively sensitive information.