Core to our sustainability strategy is our stewardship of the environment and protecting precious resources for future generations. Our commitment to the environment is longstanding, with businesses such as Hach, ChemTreat and Trojan directly safeguarding water throughout the world for more than 50 years. Across Danaher, we have long considered the environmental impact of our products and operations—and continually strive to improve on this front. We have established three clear goals to ensure our commitment translates to meaningful action. By 2024, we pledge a 15% reduction in energy use, a 15% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (both normalized to annual revenue) and a 15% decrease in the percentage of non-hazardous/non-regulated waste sent to landfills or incinerators, in each case compared to 2019 levels. To help us operationalize these environmental improvements, we have enhanced our DBS toolkit with energy management and waste reduction resources.Danaher emphasizes environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility as part of its business practices. Danaher’s health and wellness benefits support our associates’ wellbeing and respond to their needs. Each associate can select from a range of physical fitness, emotional resilience and financial stability programs according to his or her individual goals. In 2020, we expanded our employee assistance program (EAP) to support our associates globally.We are immensely proud of our operating companies’ responses to the challenges brought on by the pandemic—especially their efforts to provide our customers with uninterrupted service throughout 2020. Our businesses serve critical roles, and most were deemed essential even at the height of stay- at-home orders. Our manufacturing teams and field workers were quick to adapt to the new business environment and emphasized safety first to ensure our customers were able to deliver on their commitments as well.As part of its ongoing commitment to good corporate governance, our Board of Directors has codified its corporate governance practices into a set of Corporate Governance Guidelines and has also adopted written charters for each of the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee of the Board. Danaher has also adopted a code of business conduct and ethics for directors, officers (including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer) and employees, known as the Standards of Conduct. Board Leadership Structure. The Board has separated the positions of Chairman and CEO because it believes that, at this time, this structure best enables the Board to ensure that Danaher’s business and affairs are managed effectively and in the best interests of shareholders. This is particularly the case in light of the fact that the Company’s Chairman is Steven Rales, a co-founder of the Company who owns approximately 6.3 percent of the Company’s outstanding shares, served as CEO of the company from 1984 to 1990 and continues to serve as an executive officer of the company. As a result of his substantial ownership stake in the Company, the Board believes that Mr. Rales is uniquely able to understand, articulate and advocate for the rights and interests of the Company’s shareholders. Danaher operates across multiple industries, including life sciences, diagnostics, dental, and environmental solutions. This diversification helps the company manage risks and reduce dependence on any single sector. Danaher is a significant player in life sciences research and diagnostic tools. The company offers products and solutions that support various scientific research and healthcare needs. Danaher is known for its Danaher Business System (DBS), a set of tools and processes that focus on continuous improvement and operational excellence. This approach enhances efficiency and drives financial sustainability. Danaher invests in research and development to innovate and develop new products that cater to evolving customer needs and market demands.In 2017, with the support of a consultant, Danaher conducted an extensive materiality assessment to identify the intersection of Danaher’s key strategic and sustainability goals. The assessment incorporated feedback from a range of internal and external stakeholders, and included a review of peer best practices. The results of this assessment formed the basis of our sustainability program, which is structured around three sustainability pillars. We believe in harnessing Danaher’s scale and resources to drive companywide sustainability initiatives where it makes sense, while leveraging the power of our decentralized operating structure to enable our operating companies to pursue sustainability in ways that best fit the needs of their particular stakeholders. In the spirit of continuous improvement, we continue to actively seek feedback on our sustainability program from our customers, associates and investors. We share this feedback with our management Sustainability Committee and our Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee, and Compensation Committee, as applicable, to help inform their decision-making and improve our program.