Sylvamo Corp (SLVM) Business

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

OUR COMPANY

Sylvamo Corporation (the “Company” or “Sylvamo”, which may also be referred to as “we” or “us”) is a global uncoated papers company with a broad portfolio of top-tier brands and low-cost, large-scale paper mills located in and serving the most attractive geographies, including Europe, Latin America and North America, which are our business segments. We produce uncoated freesheet (“UFS”) for paper products such as cutsize and offset paper, as well as market pulp. With roots going back to 1898, we have a long history of offering premium quality papers to meet the needs of our customers and end-users. Our mills in North America and Latin America predominantly rank in the lowest quartile on global and regional UFS cost curves, and we believe our low-cost operations enable us to serve our customers with the highest quality products at attractive margins. Our industry-leading brands, known for their long-standing reputation in their respective markets for product quality and performance, allow us to maintain our long-term relationships with top-tier customers throughout economic cycles. Our international reach and strong positioning across retail, merchant and e-commerce channels optimally positions us to meet the paper needs of our end-users around the world. This also provides geographical diversification of our revenue and profits. From 2023 to 2025, on average, we generated 48% of our revenues and 28% of our Business Segment Operating Profit in Europe and Latin America. Each region in which we operate exhibits different supply and demand characteristics. Both Latin America and North America have strong profitability for the uncoated paper industry relative to other geographies. See Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Business Segment Results - Results of Operations for a definition of Business Segment Operating Profit.

COMPETITION

The markets in which we operate are highly competitive with well-established domestic and foreign manufacturers. For instance, in North America, the four largest manufacturers of UFS, including Sylvamo, represent approximately 80% of the total annual production capacity. As the use of electronic mediums and alternative products increases, and because paper production does not generally rely on proprietary processes, except for highly specialized papers or products, the areas into which Sylvamo sells its principal products are increasingly competitive. Furthermore, the level of competitive pressure Sylvamo may face is dependent, in part, upon exchange rates, particularly the rate between the U.S. dollar and the Euro and the U.S. dollar and the Brazilian real. Some of our competitors have shut down or converted mills or paper machines at their mills to linerboard, pulp and boxboard capacity, which reduced the supply of UFS and other printing papers.

MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION

Sylvamo sells products directly to end users and converters, as well as through agents, resellers and paper distributors.

DESCRIPTION OF PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS

The Company’s principal products are described in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials essential to our businesses include wood fiber, chemicals, water and energy. Information about our sources and the availability to us of raw materials, particularly wood, the principal raw material from which our products are made, is included in Item 1A. Risk Factors - “Increased costs or decreased availability of raw materials and energy could adversely affect our business.” and Item 7. Managements’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

HUMAN CAPITAL

In this Human Capital section and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer in various contexts to our website and to sustainability performance reviews, other reports, policies, and other information published by us or on our website. The information on our website and in the referenced sustainability performance reviews, other reports, policies and other

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information, and that is otherwise connected to our website, 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.

Employees

Sylvamo’s capabilities and potential are delivered through our dedicated, talented and diverse workforce, which we believe is among the best in the industry. As of December 31, 2025, our global workforce of over 6,500 people was located approximately 25% in Europe, 49% in Latin America and 26% in North America. A portion of our workforce is represented by unions in Brazil, France, Sweden and, in the United States, at our mill in Ticonderoga, New York. We believe that our relationships with our unions are constructive.

We strive to be the employer of choice. We aim to attract, retain and develop talented employees that reflect our diverse communities and global end-users of our paper. To that end, we work to foster a safe and inclusive workplace where all employees feel safe, welcomed, valued, engaged, fairly compensated and have opportunities for professional development.

Health and Safety

Our priority is people before paper -- the health and safety of our employees, contractors and visitors to our facilities are paramount. We strive to design and operate injury-free workplaces for our employees and everyone who enters our facilities. As responsible stewards of people and their communities, we have emphasized safety at our Company and strictly complied with national regulations such as, in the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regulations. Based on our safety record and our comparison of it against publicly available industry safety information, we are an industry-leading company in employee safety.

We track our safety record. Information about our safety record is available on our website, sylvamo.com, and in our annual sustainability performance review. Our Sustainability Performance Review for 2024 is available on our website, sylvamo.com. We will post our Sustainability Performance Review for 2025 on our website when it is completed, which is expected in the first half of 2026.

We take precautions to protect the health and safety of our employees and comply with applicable government requirements and safety guidance in the three regions where we operate. We continue to promote safety through our “People Before Paper” program, which we first introduced in 2022. This program promotes increasing safety, especially in the manufacturing setting, by emphasizing focus on one safe task at a time and stopping work if work conditions appear unsafe. It further emphasizes mental health and overall well-being as important to increasing safety. Since we introduced the program, we have consistently worked to increase safety through initiatives developed and implemented under the program. These initiatives included ongoing communications and training, as well as our leadership’s insistence that employees put people’s safety before operations, always.

As part of our ongoing evaluation of safety performance, we undertook expanded and sustained initiatives under our safety program in 2024, continuing in 2025, to further strengthen our safety culture and outcomes. These initiatives included leadership communications emphasizing safety; regular company‑wide meetings focused on safety performance and improvement efforts; targeted safety training at our facilities addressing specific areas for improvement; safety “stand‑downs” to reinforce the expectation that employees speak up and stop work when conditions appear unsafe; recognition of employees who identify or address potential safety issues; and opportunities for employees to share safety improvements at periodic company‑wide meetings.

In addition, we continue to emphasize the importance of employees’ physical and mental health and well‑being and provide opportunities and resources to support them, including our Employee Assistance Program and other benefit resources available in all regions where we operate.

Notwithstanding our efforts to ensure a safe workplace and support the physical and mental health of our employees, we cannot guarantee that our efforts will always be successful. Success is subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, including risks noted in Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. A failure to keep our employees and others safe on our premises could disrupt our operations, result in losses associated with liability or potential liability to the harmed individual and to applicable governmental agencies responsible for regulation of safety, and cause us reputational harm.

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Attraction and Retention

Compensation, Benefits and Talent Development

Our talent strategy focuses on attracting and retaining the best employee talent from the diverse backgrounds of the communities where we operate. We aim to foster for employees a work culture where employees from those diverse backgrounds work well together, are treated fairly, and are valued for their talents and the viewpoints that they bring to the table. We aim to provide competitive compensation and benefits, reward individual, team and company performance, provide professional development opportunities, promote employee health and well-being, and encourage engagement by showing our employees that we value their commitment to our company objectives, to each other and to their communities.

To provide our employees globally competitive and fair compensation and benefits, we periodically review, adjust and align our compensation practices with best practices around the material elements of our compensation structure.

Our employee recruiting includes developing talent through lateral and promotional moves and recruiting new talent through external and college recruiting efforts. As an example of such college recruiting efforts, in the United States, Brazil and Europe, we have programs that include internships and trainee programs to attract college hires, with a special focus on preparing early career engineers and safety professionals to be future leaders at Sylvamo. We believe that these efforts help develop a strong, talented and diverse workforce at Sylvamo.

To strengthen our recruitment and retention efforts, we recently launched Sylvamo’s Global Employee Value Proposition (“EVP”). In 2024, we conducted research engaging a large sample of our workforce, to better understand the attributes that make Sylvamo the Employer of Choice. This research surfaced five core pillars that define our EVP and reflect what our employees have said they value most: Total Rewards, Safety & Well‑being, Development, Company Performance, and Work Environment and Relationships. Beginning in 2026, we will focus on communicating and embedding these pillars in our business to enhance talent attraction and retention.

We support and encourage our employees by providing opportunities to strengthen their connection and commitment to Sylvamo and to the communities in which they work and live, as we believe that a highly engaged workforce is important to our business success. In 2024, we conducted a global employee engagement survey, which indicated that employee engagement levels are fairly high across all regions in which we operate. The survey also established a baseline against which we intend to measure and improve engagement over time, based on the most impactful business need in each location and region. With over 80 engagement action plans across our locations, our teams focused on improvements ranging from safety and well-being, employees’ connection to our strategy, collaboration, employee development and fostering a stronger “speak your mind” culture. By 2025 year-end, progress was made on nearly all of these action plans, and this will continue to be a focus for the organization. In addition, during 2025 we offered employees in our various operating regions multiple opportunities to engage with and support their communities. We share information about our employee engagement opportunities on the “Why We Care” section of our website at sylvamo.com.

We develop the capabilities of our employees through our continuous learning, development and performance management programs. We invest in their growth and development by providing a multi-dimensional approach to learning. This approach includes various learning journeys to help employees grow personally and professionally and advance within our organization, including for specific positions, for specific development targets, and for development of competencies and Sylvamo’s culture. These learning resources are intended to provide employees with the skills they need to achieve their career goals, build management skills and be leaders at Sylvamo. With tools in place to support meaningful development discussions and global development sessions and resources available, employees are encouraged to own their development.

Inclusion and Diversity

A component of our overall effort to attract and retain exceptional employee talent, supporting our objective to be the employer of choice, is to cultivate a workforce where employees from diverse backgrounds are represented, engaged and empowered to inspire innovative ideas and decisions, where employees feel welcome, included and valued, and where all employees are treated fairly.

To ensure we advance and create a more inclusive work environment, we follow a model that includes: (1) our Global I&D Council, (2) employee inclusion networks open to all employees, and (3) regional action plans. The Global I&D Council provides feedback, sponsorship and support to our inclusion and diversity strategy and helps identify and implement means for

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our strategy to succeed. They meet quarterly and membership includes a range of employees at various levels of leadership, who are from the regions where we operate and are of diverse races, genders and cultural backgrounds.

We believe that education is essential to strengthening an inclusive culture. We offer and encourage employees and leaders to participate in learning opportunities designed to increase awareness, foster more inclusive behaviors, and help create a workplace where everyone feels valued and respected.

Management keeps our senior leadership and board of directors aware of our I&D initiatives and progress through periodic reports. The Management Development and Compensation Committee of our board of directors is responsible for oversight of I&D matters.

Challenges and Risks

Our hiring and retention efforts are impacted by competition for the highly skilled labor needed in our industry, particularly at our mills, which makes our cost of labor high compared to industries that require less skilled labor. We have not experienced any material shortage of labor, but if the labor supply were to contract substantially in any of the regions where we operate, it could impede our ability to attract and retain employee talent and further increase our cost of labor. For more information regarding our risks relating to the labor market, see Item 1A. Risk Factors, particularly – “Our business depends on our ability to attract, retain and develop skilled employees and management.”

Our hiring and retention efforts focus on ensuring equal opportunities in hiring and promotion, enhanced by our inclusion and diversity efforts that value employees of all backgrounds and talents and that, without regard to their backgrounds, provide employees with access to the support we provide for career growth and success. There is risk, particularly in the United States, that such efforts could expose us to legal challenges relating to such efforts. There is also risk that, despite our efforts, we will not achieve our aspirational goals or adequately foster the work culture described above.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND OTHER REGULATIONS

Sylvamo is subject to a wide range of general and industry-specific laws and regulations that are complex and changing in the regions, countries, states and other jurisdictions where we operate. They include, but are not limited to, laws pertaining to: environmental, health and safety; climate change; tax; privacy and data security; antitrust; product liability; intellectual property ownership and infringement; labor and employment; anti-corruption; import, export and trade; and foreign exchange controls and foreign ownership and investment. In addition, new laws or regulations affecting our facilities are routinely passed or proposed.

We have procedures in place to stay informed about developments concerning possible new legislation and laws in the countries where we operate. We regularly assess whether such legislation or laws may have a material effect on us, our operations and financial condition.

Environmental and Climate Change Regulation

Current or proposed environmental laws (by “laws,” we also mean regulations and other governmental rules) include those governing wood harvesting, air emissions, climate change, wastewater discharges, storage, management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, contaminated sites, landfill operation and closure obligations, and health and safety matters. Compliance with these laws in all jurisdictions where we operate, therefore, is a significant factor in the operation of our business and may result in capital expenditures as well as additional operating costs. For example, our United States mills are in compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) maximum achievable control technology (“MACT”) standards that require owners of specified pulp and paper process equipment and boilers to meet air emissions standards for certain substances. However, as required by the Clean Air Act, the EPA is expected to conduct a Risk and Technology Review (“RTR”) after the application of the MACT standards to determine if the standard was protective enough for human health. It is possible that such review could result in future MACT and RTR regulations that necessitate our making future capital project expenditures to comply with such regulations.

We are subject to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (“EUDR”), which has a compliance deadline of December 30, 2026. The EUDR will require companies trading in wood, cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber and soya, as well as products derived from these commodities such as paper, to conduct extensive diligence on the value chain to ensure the goods do not result from recent deforestation, forest degradation or breaches of local laws in order to trade such products in or from the

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European Union market. We have incurred costs and devoted significant time and effort to assess how, and to prepare, to comply with the EUDR, and will continue to incur costs and devote time and effort to comply after its requirements go into effect. The EUDR may also reduce the availability of and increase the price of goods supplied to us that are subject to its rules.

Several Canadian provinces, all countries in the European Union, and some states in the United States have adopted, and more jurisdictions may adopt, extended producer responsibility, or “EPR,” laws. EPR laws assign producers of the materials covered by the laws some financial responsibility for the end-of-life management of those materials within the adopting jurisdiction. These laws can apply to various types of materials, and some of them apply to packaging and paper products. We are, or in 2026 will be, subject to EPR laws in various European countries, Canadian provinces and states in the United States, including, among others, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Maryland, Washington and Oregon, where we may be required to pay fees to manage the end-of-life cost of our products. EPR laws also may cause us to pay higher prices for the packaging and other materials that we purchase from suppliers subject to EPR laws, who may pass through to their customers some of their increased costs resulting from such laws.

Some of the foregoing and various other environmental and health and safety laws applicable to us provide for substantial fines or penalties and other civil and criminal sanctions for failure to comply. Certain environmental laws provide for strict liability and, under certain circumstances, joint and several liability; for example, for investigation and remediation of the release of hazardous substances into the environment.

We are committed to avoiding adverse impacts on the environment, including, but not limited to, by controlling emissions and discharges from our facilities and by the responsible sourcing of materials to produce our paper, both as an environmental steward and to maintain our compliance with applicable laws. However, we may encounter situations in which our operations failed to maintain full compliance with applicable requirements, or we may learn that previous owners of our property failed to comply with applicable requirements for which responsibility may be imposed on us by law (for example, if they released substances in violation of environmental laws), which could possibly lead to civil or criminal fines, fees, penalties or enforcement actions against us. These could include governmental or judicial orders that stop or interrupt our operations or that require us to take corrective measures at substantial costs, such as installation of additional pollution control equipment or environmental remediation. See Item 1A. Risk Factors – “Environmental regulations could result in significant compliance costs, operational constraints and liabilities for non-compliance.” An environmental clean-up matter in Brazil, which has been ongoing since prior to our spin-off from International Paper, and which has not had, but could have, a material financial impact on us, is described in Note 11 Commitments and Contingent Liabilities to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 in this Annual Report on 10-K.

In 2025, we spent approximately $5.4 million, and over the course of 2026 and 2027 we expect to spend $10 to $12 million, on capital projects in the aggregate for our mills in the three regions where we operate to control environmental releases into the air and water and to assure environmentally sound management and disposal of waste. Depending on how project timelines develop, we expect to spend about $6 to $8 million of such amount in 2026.

Multiple laws have been passed in various jurisdictions addressing climate change that apply to us and may have a material impact on us.

The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, went into effect in November 2016 and continues international efforts and voluntary commitments toward reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Consistent with this objective, participating countries aim to balance GHG emissions generation and sequestration in the second half of this century or, in effect, achieve net zero global GHG emissions. Although the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, our mill in New York will be subject to a newly-adopted state GHG reporting rule that will require reporting starting in June 2027 for the 2026 year, which may result in additional expense for us to monitor and report. Our two mills in Europe and our three mills in Brazil are impacted by GHG reduction commitments made by member countries under the Paris Agreement. In the EU, there is a GHG Emissions Trading System ("EU ETS"). Our Saillat and Nymolla mills are under Phase IV of the EU ETS that established a trading period ending in 2030. Until the end of such period, our Saillat mill may benefit from participation in free allocation of GHG emission allowances, but our Nymolla mill’s eligibility to participate terminated on December 31, 2025. The Saillat mill’s continued participation is subject to various factors, including potential changes to the EU ETS system. The termination of Nymolla’s eligibility to participate is not expected to have a material financial impact on us. The Paris Agreement and EU ETS may have a material impact on us depending on, among other factors, how binding the GHG emissions reduction commitments made by Paris Agreement member countries are, how market prices for GHG emissions credits evolve under applicable rules over the coming years, and the extent to which our mills are subject to requirements of member countries imposed in connection with the Paris Agreement.

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In the United States, the EPA manages regulations to: (i) control GHG emissions from mobile sources by adopting transportation fuel efficiency standards; (ii) control GHG emissions from new Electric Generating Units ("EGUs"); (iii) control emissions from new oil and gas processing operations; and (iv) require reporting of GHG emissions from sources of GHG emissions greater than 25,000 tons per year. Several U.S. states have enacted or are considering legal measures to require the reduction of GHG emissions by companies and public utilities. These federal and state regulations have not had a material impact on us. We monitor proposed programs, but it is unclear what impacts, if any, future GHG rules would have on our operations. Although not required by current regulations, we aim to reduce our Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions by 35% and define a pathway to net zero emissions by 2030 against a 2019 baseline, although we cannot provide assurance that we will be successful in these efforts.

Furthermore, governments may enact additional laws to protect the environment and address climate change, which could expose us to the costs of additional compliance and the risks of potential noncompliance. Environmental and climate change regulation continues to evolve in the various countries and U.S. states where we do business. For example, some U.S. states in which we have manufacturing operations, including New York, are taking measures to reduce GHG emissions, such as by developing a cap-and-trade program. While it is likely that governmental action and legislation regarding environmental protection and climate change (including GHG emissions) will continue or increase in the future, it is not possible to predict what additional laws relating to environmental protection and climate change may be implemented, which countries, U.S. states or other jurisdictions may adopt such laws, or the extent to which such laws may impact our business; nor is it possible to predict how existing or future laws will be administered or interpreted. In addition to possible direct impacts, such as our costs of compliance and risk of penalties and corrective measures in the event of violations, future laws could impact us indirectly, such as causing us higher prices for transportation, energy and other inputs, as well as generating more protracted air permitting processes, and causing delays and higher costs to implement capital projects.

If and as regulators increase their focus on climate change and other sustainability issues, we have been, or may become, subject to new disclosure frameworks and regulations. For example, the European Parliament adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), and EU sustainability reporting standards are being developed by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, with such standards to be tailored to EU policies building on and contributing to international standardization initiatives. Such reporting will apply not only to local operations in the EU, but under certain circumstances, to entire global companies that have EU operations. The CSRD will require us to begin reporting for European operations in 2027 and for the entire Company globally in 2029, with the option to voluntarily commence reporting for the entire Company earlier than 2029. Compliance with the CSRD has required and will continue to require, and compliance with any future climate disclosure regulations may require, us to incur costs and devote significant resources, time and attention by our management and other personnel. While we fully comply, or expect to fully comply, with all such regulations as they apply to us, if we fail to comply it would subject us to potential penalties and fines.

Other Regulations

Regional, national, state and local regulations apply to us in Europe, Latin America and North America that regulate the licensing and inspection of our facilities, including, in the United States, compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act that sets health and safety standards to protect our employees from accidents, and Department of Labor regulations that set employment practice standards for workers.

We are subject to highly complex tax laws in various countries in Europe, Latin America and North America, most notably in the countries where we have significant operations – Brazil, France, Sweden and the United States – that if violated, could result in significant fines, interest charges and costs associated with litigation. In Brazil, our business is subject to various tax proceedings, including those discussed in Note 11 Commitments and Contingent Liabilities and Note 10 Income Taxes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 in this Annual Report on 10-K.

Our global operations subject us to complex and evolving privacy and information security laws and regulations such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation, Brazil's Lei Geral de Proteçāo de Dados Pessoais, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and the California Privacy Rights Act. These laws require us to comply with a range of obligations regarding the handling of personal data. There are significant penalties for non-compliance including monetary fines, disruption of operations and reputational harm. Moreover, governmental authorities around the world are considering, or are in the process of implementing, new data protection regulations. We identify various risks associated with privacy and information security laws and regulations in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

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Our operations around the world are subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010.

For further information about the regulatory risks of our business, see Item 1A. Risk Factors – “Compliance with a broad range of complex and changing regulations could increase our costs or limit our operations, and failure to comply could result in liabilities and harm our business. ”

SUSTAINABILITY

Sylvamo remains committed to operating responsibly and sustainably, and incorporates this into our strategies and everyday processes as we seek to seize opportunities, address risks and create long-term value for our shareholders. Our commitment to sustainability spans our value chain, from the safety of our employees, to the responsible sourcing of raw materials, to using renewable energy and ensuring the recyclability of our products. Our commitment is part of our Code of Conduct and it requires us to operate as responsible stewards for our communities and the environment. We believe that operating in this manner creates healthy communities, enhances our competitive position with our customers, increases our desirability as an investment and helps engender employee pride in the Company, thereby helping us achieve our vision to be the world’s paper company: the employer, supplier and investment of choice.

Our 2024 Sustainability Performance Review (available at sylvamo.com/us/en/sustainability) illustrates our 2024 contributions to the circular, low-carbon economy, to our employees’ safety, well-being and success, and to supporting our communities. It reflects our goal to operate as a sustainable company that generates profits for our shareholders, protects the environment, and improves people’s lives. In the 2024 Sustainability Performance Review, we highlight and report on our key initiatives for achieving that goal. We plan to report on our 2025 initiatives in our 2025 Sustainability Performance Review, to be published in 2026. Our annual sustainability reporting includes disclosures aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) and the Task Force On Climate Related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) frameworks (available at sylvamo.com/us/en/sustainability/reporting). We cannot guarantee that we will achieve our goals and initiatives described in our Sustainability Performance Reviews and in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our ability to achieve them is subject to risks and uncertainties both known and unknown, including various risks noted in Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Sustainable Sourcing and Forest Management

Sylvamo recognizes the environmental, social and economic values of forested landscapes. We seek to play an active role in preventing deforestation and forest degradation, promoting and increasing the use of responsibly managed forests, and meeting market demand for sustainably certified products, through our efforts described below.

In addition to our Code of Conduct, our Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability Policy sets forth the principles we follow to ensure the health and safety of all employees, contractors and visitors, improve our environmental impact and our stewardship of natural resources. Our Global Fiber Procurement Policy sets forth requirements for the wood we accept, including requirements intended to protect the environment and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. Our Third Party Code of Conduct requires the parties with which we do business to comply with all laws and encourages them to reduce their impact on the environment. We make these policies available on our website.

Our operations strive to incorporate responsible forest stewardship to ensure healthy and productive forest ecosystems for generations to come. For example, we promote healthy and productive forest ecosystems by committing to source 100% of our fiber from sustainably managed forests and aiming to conserve, enhance or restore 250,000 acres of ecologically significant forestland globally by 2030. Towards this goal, we continue investing in forest restoration and enhancement in the Atlantic Forest region of Brazil and the Appalachians of the United States, through joint efforts with international and local organizations.

We maintain longstanding partnerships with several of the world’s largest and most respected environmental and conservation organizations to restore and protect forests and advance the understanding of the role of forests as natural climate solutions, including the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund and various local environmental organizations in the communities where we live and work. We also help our suppliers with their efforts to develop actions that improve forest management and fiber procurement practices. We believe that these strategic informal partnerships are essential to achieve the scale necessary for positive long-term impact and to develop sustainable solutions that address critical regional and global forestry issues.

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We support and use third-party certification of sustainable forest management through forest certification and chain-of-custody systems, and we work to continue to meet our customer’s demand for certified-fiber products. Sylvamo follows these credible certification systems: Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®); the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®); and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). In 2025, all of our fiber sourced globally complied with Forest Stewardship Council® standards, mitigating the risks of using fiber from unacceptable sources, and based on the latest figures available, approximately 50% of our sourced fiber was from forests certified to the FSC®, SFI® or PEFC Forest Management Standards. Additionally, nearly all of our owned forestland is certified to the FSC® (C101761) Forest Management Standard.

Reduction of Water Usage

Sylvamo is working to reduce our total water usage. In 2025, we assessed our water usage goals and determined to focus our efforts on creating context-based water reduction plans and focus our efforts on reducing overall water usage in our high-risk operations off of our 2019 baseline. Our mill in Tres Lagoas, Brazil, is the first in Sylvamo’s system to achieve a 25% reduction in water use against a 2019 baseline. We intend to update our progress reducing water usage at least annually on our Company website or in our Sustainability Performance Reviews.

Climate Impact and Reduction of GHGs

Sylvamo recognizes that the climate is changing. The GHGs carbon dioxide and methane trap higher amounts of heat in the atmosphere than many other atmospheric gasses and remain in the atmosphere for years; therefore, we believe it is prudent to reduce those emissions. We seek to reduce our GHG emissions by working to reduce our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and by advancing a lower-carbon economy by designing 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable papers that people depend on for education, communication and entertainment. Additionally, various jurisdictions where we operate have passed laws to address climate change that have an impact on us and our work to reduce GHG emissions, as described above in “-Environmental and Other Regulations - Environmental and Climate Change Regulation.”

We seek to achieve an incremental 35% reduction in our mills’ Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions by 2030, as compared against a 2019 baseline, and continue efforts to further decarbonize our operations by defining a pathway to net zero. Our GHG emissions reduction targets were validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in April 2024 and are consistent with a well below 2 degrees Celsius scenario and the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement impacts our mills in Europe and Brazil, due to GHG emissions reduction commitments in accord with the Paris Agreement that have been made by the respective countries in which those mills are located. Our mills in Europe may benefit from free allocation of GHG emission allowances under the EU ETS to meet GHG emissions reduction targets, subject to various factors, including that our Nymölla mill’s eligibility to participate in allocations terminated at the end of 2025, as described in “- Environmental and Other Regulations - Environmental and Climate Change Regulation.”

Based on the most recent available data, Sylvamo’s mills generated at least 85% of the energy used in the mills from carbon-neutral biomass residuals, which minimizes the use of fossil fuels that our company would otherwise use in its operations. Our mill in Nymölla, Sweden, has EU Ecolabel and Nordic Swan Ecolabel certification, which are third party certifications of products that meet high environmental standards and, in the case of EU Ecolabel certification, contribute to the EU’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

Sylvamo participates in the Carbon Disclosure Project (“CDP”) questionnaires concerning climate change, forests and water, to quantify and provide transparency on our environmental practices and progress. We also participate in the EcoVadis rating platform that assesses supply chain environmental, social and ethical practices. Our responses to CDP questionnaires and our EcoVadis performance overview are published at www.sylvamo.com/us/en/sustainability.

The long-term effects of climate change on the global economy, our industry and us are unclear, especially in view of the political significance and uncertainty around regulatory actions proposed or being taken to address climate change. Changes in climate where we, our customers and our suppliers operate could have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition, as could regulatory actions to address climate change. More information about risks related to climate change and climate change regulation is available in Item 1A. Risk Factors – “We are exposed to risks associated with adverse climate and weather conditions and evolving climate-related regulations, obligations and stakeholder expectations.”

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Management and Board Oversight

We have several working teams that focus on sustainability matters consisting of a cross functional group of employees and commercial leaders. The teams guide the company’s sustainability and community engagement strategies and monitor and report progress. We have a Chief Sustainability Officer (“CSO”) who oversees a team of employees who report to the CSO. The CSO’s team is responsible for our global sustainability strategy and initiatives, which are intended to protect the environment and improve the lives of those we interact with, while creating profit for shareholders. Our CSO reports to our Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative and Legal Officer. Our CSO provides regular reports to our board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, which is the board committee responsible for oversight of sustainability matters, including oversight of climate-related matters.

Our sustainability efforts are carried out in all of the regions where we operate, by multiple business teams into whose responsibilities sustainability concepts have been integrated. In addition to the dedicated sustainability team of employees led by our CSO, our human resources and sourcing teams handle various aspects of sustainability programs in their respective areas. Also, designated staff at our corporate, business and facility levels help identify, prioritize and manage sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and we have a responsible operations working group made up of global manufacturing and technical experts who are focused on key operational issues related to water and GHG emissions.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION

Sylvamo’s internet address is www.sylvamo.com. We make available, free of charge, on or through our internet website, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains information that includes or is based upon forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements forecast or state expectations concerning future events. These statements often can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They typically use words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “should,” “will” and other words and terms of similar meaning, or they are tied to future periods in connection with discussions of the Company’s performance. Some examples of forward-looking statements include those relating to our business and operating outlook, future obligations and anticipated expenditures.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Any or all forward-looking statements may turn out to be incorrect, and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and the current economic environment. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict. Although it is not possible to identify all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors, the impact of the following factors, among others, on us or on our suppliers or customers, could cause our actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements: global or regional economic, civil, political conditions or trade developments; adverse climate and weather conditions, including risks to our forestlands and mills from drought, fires or floods; reduced demand for our products due to the cyclical nature of the paper industry, the industry-wide secular decline in paper demand, or competition from other businesses; increased costs or reduced availability of the raw materials, energy, transportation (truck, rail and ocean) and labor needed to manufacture and deliver our products; a material disruption at any of our manufacturing facilities; information technology risks including potential cybersecurity breaches affecting us or third parties with which we do business; extensive environmental, tax and other laws and regulations in Brazil, Europe, the United States and other jurisdictions to which we are subject, including our compliance costs and risk of liability and loss for violations; our reliance on a small number of customers; and the factors disclosed in Item 1A. Risk Factors, as such disclosures may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including subsequent annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to reflect subsequent events or circumstances or actual outcomes.

Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, 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

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section of our website at www.sylvamo.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The information contained on or connected to our website 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 filed with or furnished to the SEC.