At December 31, 2022, the Corporation had accrued obligations of $183 million for probable environmental remediation and restoration costs ($148 million at December 31, 2021), including $36 million for the remediation of Superfund sites ($23 million at December 31, 2021). This is management's best estimate of the costs for remediation and restoration with respect to environmental matters for which the Corporation has accrued liabilities, although it is reasonably possible that the ultimate cost with respect to these particular matters could range up to approximately two times that amount. Consequently, it is reasonably possible that environmental remediation and restoration costs in excess of amounts accrued could have a material impact on the Corporation's results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. It is the opinion of the Corporation's management, however, that the possibility is remote that costs in excess of the range disclosed will have a material impact on the Corporation's results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Inherent uncertainties exist in these estimates primarily due to unknown environmental conditions, changing governmental regulations and legal standards regarding liability, and emerging remediation technologies for handling site remediation and restoration. As new or additional information becomes available and/or certain spending trends become known, management will evaluate such information in determination of the current estimate of the environmental liability.

The Corporation is and has been involved in a large number of asbestos-related suits filed primarily in state courts during the past four decades. These suits principally allege personal injury resulting from exposure to asbestos-containing products and frequently seek both actual and punitive damages. The alleged claims primarily relate to products that UCC sold in the past, alleged exposure to asbestos-containing products located on UCC’s premises and UCC’s responsibility for asbestos suits filed against a former UCC subsidiary, Amchem Products, Inc. ("Amchem"). In many cases, plaintiffs are unable to demonstrate that they have suffered any compensable loss as a result of such exposure, or that injuries incurred in fact resulted from exposure to the Corporation’s products. The Corporation expects more asbestos-related suits to be filed against UCC and Amchem in the future, and will aggressively defend or reasonably resolve, as appropriate, both pending and future claims.

The Corporation has engaged Ankura Consulting Group, LLC ("Ankura") to perform periodic studies to estimate the undiscounted cost of disposing of pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem through the terminal year of 2049, including a reasonable forecast of future defense and processing costs. Each October, the Corporation requests Ankura to review its historical asbestos claim and resolution activity through the third quarter of the current year, including asbestos-related defense and processing costs, to determine the appropriateness of updating the most recent study. At each balance sheet date, the Corporation also compares current asbestos claim and resolution activity, including asbestos-related defense and processing costs, to the results of the most recent Ankura study to determine whether the accrual continues to be appropriate.

In December 2020, Ankura completed a study of the Corporation's historical asbestos claim and resolution activity through September 30, 2020, including asbestos-related defense and processing costs, and provided estimates for the undiscounted cost of disposing of pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem through the terminal year of 2049. Based on the study and the Corporation's internal review process, it was determined that no adjustment to the accrual was required.

In December 2021, Ankura stated that an update of its December 2020 study would not provide a more likely estimate of future events than the estimate reflected in the study and, therefore, the estimate in the study remained applicable. Based on the Corporation's internal review process and Ankura's response, the Corporation determined that no change to the accrual was required. At December 31, 2021, the asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem, including future asbestos-related defense and processing costs, was $1,016 million and approximately 25 percent of the recorded liability related to pending claims and approximately 75 percent related to future claims.

In December 2022, Ankura completed a study of the Corporation's historical asbestos claim and resolution activity through September 30, 2022, including asbestos-related defense and processing costs, and provided estimates for the undiscounted cost of disposing of pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem through the terminal year of 2049. Based on the study and the Corporation's internal review process, it was determined that no adjustment to the accrual was required. At December 31, 2022, the asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem, including future asbestos-related defense and processing costs, was $947 million, and approximately 23 percent of the recorded liability related to pending claims and approximately 77 percent related to future claims.

The Corporation's management believes the amounts recorded for the asbestos-related liability, including defense and processing costs, reflect reasonable and probable estimates of the liability based on current, known facts. However, future events, such as the number of new claims to be filed and/or received each year, the average cost of defending and disposing of each such claim, as well as the numerous uncertainties surrounding asbestos litigation in the United States over a significant period of time, could cause the actual costs for the Corporation to be higher or lower than those projected or those recorded. Any such event could result in an increase or decrease in the recorded liability.

Because of the uncertainties described above, the Corporation cannot estimate the full range of the cost of resolving pending and future asbestos-related claims facing UCC and Amchem. As a result, it is reasonably possible that an additional cost of disposing of asbestos-related claims, including future defense and processing costs, could have a material impact on the Corporation's results of operations and cash flows for a particular period and on the consolidated financial position.

The Corporation is also involved in a number of legal proceedings and claims with both private and governmental parties. These cover a wide range of matters, including, but not limited to: product liability; trade regulation; governmental tax and regulatory disputes; health, safety and environmental matters; employment matters; patent infringement; contracts; and commercial litigation. While it is not possible at this time to determine with certainty the ultimate outcome of any of the legal proceedings and claims referred to in this filing, management believes that the possibility is remote that the aggregate of all such other claims and lawsuits will have a material adverse impact on the results of operations, cash flows and financial position of the Corporation.

The Corporation has outstanding purchase commitments and various commitments for take-or-pay or throughput agreements. The Corporation was not aware of any purchase commitments that were negotiated as part of a financing arrangement for the facilities that will provide the contracted goods or services or for the costs related to those goods or services at December 31, 2022 and 2021.