BOARD OVERSIGHT

Our Board of Directors recognizes the importance of aligning our goals, including those related to sustainability, with the interests of our key stakeholders. Accordingly, the Board’s oversight responsibility for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) matters is reflected in our Governance Guidelines. The Board’s oversight role includes reviewing our progress towards our long-term safety and sustainability metrics and our other sustainability initiatives. We also have safety and sustainability goals incorporated into the annual performance goals of the CEO and other executives.

Please refer to our Board’s Governance Guidelines and Committee Charters here.

In addition, we have a robust enterprise risk management (ERM) program that includes aspects of sustainability and ESG. Our ERM process assesses material risks that impact us, and the Board provides oversight as to how management is addressing these risks. An internal corporate risk committee, comprised of members of our business units and various functional leaders (e.g., IT, Finance, Legal), is led by our Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management. High-priority risks facing the organization are identified each year and assigned, as appropriate, to be reviewed with either the full Board or various Board Committees. Information security and cybersecurity are currently considered high-priority risks, and the Audit Committee receives related updates at each meeting. Our ESG initiatives, including our safety and sustainability progress and goals, were also reviewed with the Board during 2021.

ESG Executive Leadership Committee

Our Management Committee sets the Company’s sustainability strategy, and our CEO leads the committee, which comprises the Company’s top executives, including business segment and functional leaders.

Our ESG Executive Leadership Committee ensures that the Management Committee recognizes the ESG factors that could impact the business and oversees implementation of the sustainability strategy. Senior leaders from EHS & Sustainability, Finance, Human Resources, Investor Relations, Financial Reporting, Risk Management, Legal and Compliance, and our business segments comprise the committee. This cross-functional team is in place to ensure engagement and alignment between the business units, regions, and functional areas within the business surrounding our ESG initiatives and projects.

Lincoln Electric’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, is the executive sponsor for our ESG Executive Leadership Committee. Our Vice President, Environmental, Health, Safety & Sustainability, leads the ESG Executive Leadership Committee and manages sustainability strategy execution, metrics tracking, and reporting. Two additional internal ESG-related committees further support the ESG Executive Leadership Committee:

• Product Sustainability Committee:
  Drives actions in the areas of sustainable procurement, product lifecycle assessment, and eco-design
• ESG Disclosure Committee:
  Ensures that robust processes and systems are in place to support public disclosures and reporting