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Director Independence

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The Board has determined that all of the Company’s current Directors and Directors who served during 2023, with the exception of Mr. Douglas L. Peterson (the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer), have met the independence requirements of the NYSE based upon the application of objective categorical standards adopted by the Board.

To be considered independent, a Director must have no material relationship (other than as a Director) with the Company, or any of its subsidiaries, either directly or as a partner, shareholder or officer of an organization that has a material relationship with the Company or any of its subsidiaries. In making independence determinations, the Board broadly considers all relevant facts and circumstances.

In addition, members of the Audit Committee must also satisfy the SEC and NYSE independence requirements, which provide that they may not be affiliates and may not accept directly or indirectly any consulting, advisory or other compensatory fee from the Company or any of its subsidiaries, other than their directors’ compensation. The Board evaluated each member of the Compensation and Leadership Development Committee (the “Compensation Committee”) under the additional SEC and NYSE compensation committee member standards and also determined that these members qualify as “non- employee directors” (as defined under Rule 16b-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).

Additional Information Regarding Director Independence

In making its independence determinations with respect to our Directors, the Board considered the following transaction that the Company engages in from time to time with the following organization in which one of our independent Directors serves as an executive officer or otherwise has a material interest:

  • Tree Energy Solutions GmBH. Mr. Marco Alverà serves as the Chief Executive Officer and is an investor of Tree Energy Solutions GmBH. In 2023, the Company and its Commodity Insights division provided Tree Energy Solutions commodities data and subscriptions.

These transactions are entered into in the ordinary course of business and on terms that are substantially equivalent to those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with other similarly situated customers or vendors of the Company. The transactions described above do not exceed 1% of the Company’s consolidated revenue or that of such other company.

In making its independence determinations with respect to our Director, the Board reviews the materiality of this transaction not only from the standpoint of such Director but also from the standpoint of the organization in which he serves. Based on this review, the Board has concluded that this transaction does not interfere with the ability of such Director to exercise independent judgment in carrying out his Board responsibilities.


Source: S&P Global’s Proxy Statement, filed with the SEC on March 19, 2024

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