# To Our Shareholders

_Source: `DeepSeekOCR_Ardian_pruned_1k/basic-materials-specialty-chemicals/NYSE_APD_2021/NYSE_APD_2021.mmd` · pages 9-15_

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To Our Shareholders

## My fellow shareholders:

Despite the well-known global challenges in 2021, the talented, committed, and motivated people of Air Products demonstrated resilience and resolve, delivered excellent results, and continued to execute our growth strategy. I want to thank every one of our more than 20,000 employees for standing together, working hard, and delivering for our customers and shareholders.

In following Air Products, you know that our growth and sustainability strategy are one in the same, and we are investing significantly in products and projects that support cleaner energy and a cleaner environment.

Through our base industrial gas business, customers are improving their efficiency and productivity and reducing emissions. Through our megaprojects in gasification, carbon capture and hydrogen, we are helping to address significant energy and environmental needs in our world. At the same time, we are also very focused on the social aspects of sustainability, driving our culture of diversity, inclusion
Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (left), addresses Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (far right) and attendees of the October 2021 press conference announcing Air Products' $4.5 billion investment in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. When operational in 2026, Air Products' world-scale clean energy complex will produce over 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen and capture and permanently sequester over five million metric tons of carbon dioxide ( \( CO_{2} \) ) annually.

![](images/9_0.jpg)

and belonging. Finally, we devote substantial time and attention to our corporate governance to ensure we have sound practices in place to support our growth.

The people of Air Products are doing this while continuing to deliver strong financial results, as you can see below. Air Products realized strong adjusted earnings per share \( ^{*} \)  ("EPS") this year, achieving 11 percent compounded annual growth since fiscal year 2014. Meanwhile, we returned more than 1.2 billion to our shareholders through our dividend, which we increased for the 39th consecutive year.

Adjusted EPS trend \( ^{*} \) 

![](images/9_1.jpg)

Adjusted EBITDA margin trend \( ^{*} \) 
Up over 1,100 basis points

![](images/9_2.jpg)

* Amounts are non-GAAP financial measures. See reconciliation to GAAP results on pages III–VII.

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## Fiscal 2021 Performance

Our fiscal year 2021 financial performance is detailed in the accompanying Annual Report on Form 10-K, and I would encourage you to also review the investor slides on our website, which highlight our achievements and plans for the future.

In particular, I want to comment on our highest priority, which is Safety. Overall, our safety performance improved in fiscal year 2021 versus last year, and notably, we have seen a 75 percent improvement in the employee lost-time injury rate and a 33 percent improvement in the employee recordable injury rate since fiscal year 2014. However, our goal, as always, remains zero accidents and zero incidents.
As our employees around the world continue to navigate COVID-19, they know it is vital to focus on the task at hand, work safely and follow our health and safety procedures and protocols. We have a moral responsibility to keep each other safe and to protect our environment and our hundreds of operating communities around the world.

## Driving the Energy Transition

Creating a cleaner future requires experience, investment and innovation on a world-scale. At Air Products, we have the technology, the track record, the capital and the ambition and are acting as a first-mover. In keeping with our strategic Five-Point Plan, we are taking real action through real projects to accelerate the energy transition, making our dream a reality.

## Making Our Dream a Reality

Air Products' goal is to be the safest, most diverse and most profitable industrial gas company in the world, providing excellent service to our customers.

Our dream of the future is for Air Products to be the leader in providing solutions to the world's environmental challenges through:

• Gasification of hydrocarbons;

• Implementing solutions to capture  \( CO_{2} \)  from gasifiers and hydrogen plants; and

• Further developing technologies and making Air Products the leader in providing hydrogen for transportation around the world.

Our dream of the future is to be a company that has a higher purpose beyond just creating value for shareholders through improved financial performance . . .
a company where people from all walks of life and nationalities come together, work together, and feel that they belong and that their contributions matter and are appreciated . . .

a company that is focused on innovation to solve the substantial environmental issues facing all humanity . . .

a company that is compassionate and contributes to the well-being of all the communities in which we operate around the globe . . .

a global company that brings people from all over the world together, to collaborate, improve understanding and prevent conflicts that arise from misunderstanding.

![](images/10_0.jpg)

I am proud to say that we have continued to create and win projects that help customers and countries meet their growing needs for cleaner energy and environmental solutions. In doing so, we are making our dream a reality.

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# Making Our Dream a Reality in Fiscal 2021

We continued to serve dozens
of industries and enhance our
customers' sustainability while
developing and executing projects
that meet growing needs for
cleaner energy and environmental
solutions:

![](images/11_0.jpg)

joint venture with Aramco, ACWA Power and Air Products Quadra.

![](images/11_1.jpg)

scale energy complex will begin with a transformative, $1.3 billion (Canadian) net-zero hydrogen production and liquefaction facility expected to be onstream in 2024.

## Higher Purpose

Our higher purpose at Air Products is to bring people around the world together, so that they can, in an open environment, collaborate and innovate solutions to some of the most significant energy and environmental challenges we all face. Our growth strategy, which is focused on gasification, carbon capture and hydrogen, is designed to address these critical needs.

We know that our continued success depends on the expertise, dedication and commitment of our talented people around the world, and we have been adding resources to help us accelerate our progress in developing and executing these projects.

![](images/11_2.jpg)

We announced the $4.5 billion world-scale clean energy complex in Louisiana. Air Products will build, own and operate this megaproject, which will
produce over 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen for local and global markets in 2026. We will also capture and permanently sequester over 5 million metric tons per year of  \( CO_{2} \) , making it the largest carbon capture for sequestration facility in the world.

In addition to our major projects, we continued to make significant investments in small and mid-size on-site generators in our regional industrial gases businesses, with fiscal year 2021 being a record year for investments in this category.

Air Products was again recognized by prestigious raters and organizations for outstanding sustainability performance, including EcoVadis, Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies, 100 Best Corporate Citizens, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2021 Corporate Equality Index, and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America, among others. In addition, as a signatory to the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ and in keeping with Air Products' goal to be the most diverse industrial gas company in the world, we hosted a Day of Understanding/Week of Inclusion, further demonstrating our culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging.

## Our Higher Purpose

Bringing people together to collaborate and innovate solutions to the world's most significant energy and environmental sustainability challenges.

![](images/11_3.jpg)

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## Acknowledgments

As I do each year, in closing, I want to sincerely thank those who have supported us and helped us achieve our success.

To our customers . . . In innovating alongside you, we serve our higher purpose – supplying products that benefit the environment and help you be more efficient and sustainable. Thank you for your continued confidence and trust in us.

To our employees . . . Through your dedication and commitment, you continue to play a critical role and make a difference to the world every day, and especially during these challenging times.

To our shareholders . . . As always, thank you for your confidence and trust in Air Products. Our priority remains creating superior value for you.

I believe Air Products is uniquely positioned to help the world transition to a cleaner and better future. It is a better future we believe in, and in which we are totally vested.

![](images/12_0.jpg)

Seifi Ghasemi
Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Air Products