INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO NEW

International Paper Company (the "Company," "International Paper" or "IP", which may also be referred to as "we" or "us") is a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions. We produce renewable fiber-based packaging and pulp products with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, Europe and North Africa. We are a New York corporation, incorporated in 1941 as the successor to the New York corporation of the same name organized in 1898. You can learn more about us by visiting our website at www.internationalpaper.com.

In the United States, at December 31, 2024, the Company operated 22 pulp and packaging mills, 157 converting and packaging plants, 16 recycling plants and three bag facilities. Production facilities at December 31, 2024 in Canada, Europe, North Africa and Latin America included four pulp and packaging mills, 36 converting and packaging plants, and two recycling plants. We operate a packaging products distribution business principally through six branches in Asia. Substantially all of our businesses have experienced, and are likely to continue to experience, cycles relating to industry capacity and general economic conditions.

We are guided by our core values. We do the right things, in the right ways, for the right reasons, all of the time – this is The IP Way. Our overarching values are safety, ethics, and excellence.

•Safety – Above all else, we care about people. We look out for each other to ensure everyone returns home safely each day.

•Ethics – We act honestly and operate with integrity and respect. We promote a culture of openness and accountability.

•Excellence – We set high expectations and aim to deliver outstanding results for each other, our customers and our shareholders.

For management and financial reporting purposes, our businesses are separated into two segments: Industrial Packaging and Global Cellulose Fibers. A description of these business segments can be found on page 42 of Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

In 2024, International Paper made significant strides to further enhance our performance-driven culture that we believe will enable us to create significant

value for our employees, customers and share owners. In April 2024, International Paper announced a proposed business combination with DS Smith Plc ("DS Smith"), a global packaging, paper and recycling company and leading provider of sustainable fiber-based packaging headquartered in England in an all-stock transaction. This highly complementary business combination is designed to create a truly sustainable packaging solutions leader that can serve a broad set of customers across a wide range of attractive and growing end-markets to generate significant shareholder value. Shareholders of DS Smith and International Paper overwhelmingly approved the business combination at separate meetings in October 2024. On January 24, 2025, the Company announced plans to divest plants located in Mortagne, Saint-Amand, and Cabourg (France), Ovar (Portugal) and Bilbao (Spain) in connection with the European Commission’s clearance of the business combination. The business combination closed on January 31, 2025. Thereafter, the Company obtained a secondary listing of International Paper common stock on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: IPC) and established a Europe, Middle East and Africa ("EMEA") headquarters in DS Smith's existing main office in London. DS Smith re-registered as DS Smith Limited, a private limited company effective on February 5, 2025.

In the third quarter of 2024, the Company also began implementing an 80/20 strategic approach to drive transformational performance. The 80/20 approach suggests that 80% of our results come from 20% of efforts. As applied to our business, the approach is used to determine the most impactful areas to focus on. Through the 80/20 strategic approach, we intend to deliver profitable market share growth by striving to be the lowest-cost producer and the most reliable and innovative sustainable packaging solutions provider to our customers across North America and EMEA. As part of the Company’s 80/20 strategic approach, the Company intends to guide investments and align resources to win with our most strategic customers, while reducing complexity and cost across the Company.

To that end, the Company initiated a corporate overhead restructuring plan in the third quarter of 2024 aimed at better aligning our workforce with the needs of the business and our customers, optimizing our organizational structure and reducing operating costs. Additionally, we committed to investing to strengthen our most competitive and strategic assets and closed facilities to structurally reduce operating costs. Further, in October 2024, we announced that we are exploring strategic options for our Global Cellulose Fibers business.

These significant undertakings follow the September 2023 completion of the sale of our 50% equity interest in Ilim S.A. ("Ilim"), the sale of all of our Ilim Group shares (constituting a 2.39% stake) and divestment of other non-material residual interests associated with Ilim. Ilim was a joint venture that operated a pulp and paper business in Russia and has subsidiaries including Ilim Group. Following the completed sales, we no longer have an interest in Ilim or any of its subsidiaries, and no longer have any investments in Russia. As a result, all current and historical results of the Ilim investment reportable segment are presented as Discontinued Operations, net of taxes. See discussion in Note 10 - Equity Method Investments on page 75 of Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

We remain confident that the initiatives undertaken as part of our transformational journey in 2024 will unlock substantial value at IP and strengthen the Company for our employees, customers and shareholders.

From 2020 through 2024, International Paper’s capital spending approximated $4.3 billion, excluding mergers and acquisitions. These expenditures reflect our continuing efforts to use our capital strategically to improve product quality and environmental performance, as well as lower costs, maintain reliability of operations and deploy strategic capital for capacity expansion. Capital spending in 2024 was approximately $921 million and is expected to be approximately $1.2 billion in 2025. You can find more information about capital spending on page 46 of Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Discussions of acquisitions can be found in Note 7 Acquisitions on page 72 of Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

You can find discussions of restructuring charges and other special items on page 37 of Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we “incorporate by reference” certain information in parts of other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The SEC permits us to disclose important information by referring you to those documents. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and proxy statements, along with all other reports and any amendments thereto filed with or furnished to the SEC, are publicly available free of charge on the Investors section of our website at www.internationalpaper.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material

with, or furnish it to, the SEC. We encourage you to refer to such information.

Our website contains a significant amount of information about the Company, including our SEC filings and financial and other information for investors. The information that we post on our website could be deemed to be material information. We encourage investors, the media, and others interested in the Company to visit this website from time to time, as information is updated and new information is posted. The information contained on or connected to our website, however, is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be considered part of this or any other report that we file with or furnish to the SEC. Our internet address is included as an inactive textual reference only.