NYSE: IP

•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.

HUMAN CAPITAL

EMPLOYEES

As of December 31, 2024, we have approximately 37,000 employees, nearly 31,000 of whom are located in the United States. Of our U.S. employees, 21,000 are hourly, with unions representing approximately 13,000 employees. Of this number, 9,600 are represented by the United Steelworkers union ("USW").

International Paper, the USW, and several other unions have entered into five master agreements covering various U.S. mills and converting facilities. Four of the master agreements are with the USW and include members from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and Workers Unite at certain U.S. mills and converting facilities. The Company also has a master agreement with District Counsel 2, which is affiliated with the Printing Packaging & Production Workers Union of North America that covers additional converting facilities. Individual facilities continue to have local agreements for 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 agreements will automatically renew with the same terms in effect.

SAFETY AND WELLBEING

At International Paper, we prioritize the safety and well-being of every employee and contractor. Safety is core to who we are and how we operate – at IP we strive to put safety above all else. 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. In 2024, we engaged an independent safety consultant firm to help the Company improve workplace safety performance through risk assessments, safety culture development and programs designed to reduce accidents and injuries. We launched a Company-wide safety culture survey in 2024 to all U.S.-based employees. Results of the survey will be analyzed in 2025 with the goal of learning, growing and aspiring to achieve our Vision 2030 goal to create a 100% injury-free workplace for our team members and contractors.

We believe workplace safety includes psychological and emotional safety. At International Paper 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 resilience. 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 2024, employees completed 2.7 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 200 front line and future leaders participated in our multi-day in-person Leadership Application and Professional Development and Manufacturing Management Associate Programs during 2024.

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 competitive. For additional information regarding risks related to the current labor market, see