Eastman Named as a World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute for the Fourth Consecutive Year

Eastman (NYSE:EMN) announced today it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as a World’s Most Ethical Company® for the fourth consecutive year. The prestigious honor underscores Eastman’s commitment to leading with the highest ethical business standards and practices.

“At Eastman, we understand that, to be successful, we must build trust and confidence with our stakeholders,” said Mark Costa, Eastman’s chairman and chief executive officer. “I’m beyond proud of our Eastman team for their commitment to conducting business with honesty and integrity every day and for earning this recognition once again this year.”

“To enhance the quality of life in a material way, conducting business within a culture of the highest ethical standards is more important than ever before,” said David A. Golden, Eastman’s senior vice president, chief legal & sustainability officer, and corporate secretary. “As we look for innovative ways to positively impact all of our stakeholders, we operate through a lens of ethics and engagement. Our team is continuously proving this philosophy true every day.”

This marks the eleventh year that Ethisphere has honored those companies who recognize their role in society to influence and drive positive change, consider the impact of their actions on their employees, investors, customers and other key stakeholders and use their values and culture as an underpinning to the decisions they make.

"Over the last eleven years, we have seen the shift in societal expectations, constant redefinition of laws and regulations and the geo-political climate. We have also seen how companies honored as the World’s Most Ethical respond to these challenges. They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage,” explained Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "Congratulations to everyone at Eastman for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company."

Eastman has a number of policies and initiatives in place that allow its team members to cultivate a culture of integrity and ethical standards. The company has an Office of Global Business Conduct, led by Eastman’s chief legal and sustainability officer, which establishes the Code of Business Conduct.

The Code outlines the laws, principles and guidelines all employees follow regarding honesty, integrity and responsible corporate behavior. Regular training on the Code of Business Conduct is required for all employees.

Additionally, the Business Conduct Helpline is a confidential, 24-hour-a-day hotline and is staffed by communications specialists employed by an independent, globally recognized service provider.

Methodology & Scoring

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research and vetted and refined by the expert advice from Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

The EQ offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the process.

Honorees

The full list of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.