COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

Environmental Matters

Accruals for environmental matters are recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated, based on current law and existing technologies.

At December 31, 2016, the Corporation had accrued obligations of $145 million for probable environmental remediation and restoration costs, including $20 million for the remediation of Superfund sites. These obligations are included in "Accrued and other current liabilities" and "Other noncurrent obligations" in the consolidated balance sheets. 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 and a half 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. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the Corporation recorded an adjustment to the environmental accrual, primarily resulting from the culmination of negotiations with regulators and/or final stages of certain remediation projects. These charges were included in "Cost of sales" in the consolidated statements of income and are included in the total obligation of $145 million. At December 31, 2015, the Corporation had accrued obligations of $115 million for probable environmental remediation and restoration costs, including $21 million for the remediation of Superfund sites.

The following table summarizes the activity in the Corporation's accrued obligations for environmental matters for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015:



Accrued Liability for Environmental Matters
In millions	2016			2015
Balance at January 1	$	115		$	132
Accrual adjustment	115			61
Payments against reserve	(85		)	(76		)
Foreign currency impact	—			(2		)
Balance at December 31	$	145		$	115

The amounts charged to income on a pretax basis related to environmental remediation totaled $122 million in 2016, $58 million in 2015 and $62 million in 2014. Capital expenditures for environmental protection were $10 million in 2016, $14 million in 2015 and $6 million in 2014.

Litigation

The Corporation is 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 regulatory proceedings; health, safety and environmental matters; employment; patents; contracts; taxes; and commercial disputes.

Asbestos-Related Matters

Introduction

Separately, 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.

Estimating the Liability for Asbestos-Related Pending and Future Claims

Based on a study completed by Analysis, Research & Planning Corporation (now known as Ankura Consulting Group, LLC ("Ankura") as a result of the March 2016 merger of Analysis, Research & Planning Corporation and Ankura) in January 2003, the Corporation increased its December 31, 2002, asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims for a 15-year period ending in 2017 to $2.2 billion, excluding future defense and processing costs. Since then, the Corporation has compared current asbestos claim and resolution activity to the results of the most recent Ankura study at each balance sheet date to determine whether the accrual continues to be appropriate. In addition, the Corporation has requested Ankura to review the Corporation's historical asbestos claim and resolution activity each year since 2004 to determine the appropriateness of updating the most recent Ankura study.

In October 2014, the Corporation requested Ankura to review its historical asbestos claim and resolution activity and determine the appropriateness of updating its December 2012 study. In response to that request, Ankura reviewed and analyzed data through September 30, 2014. The resulting study, completed by Ankura in December 2014, estimated the undiscounted cost of disposing of pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem, excluding future defense and processing costs, was between $540 million and $640 million through 2029 based on the data as of September 30, 2014.

In December 2014, based on Ankura's December 2014 study and the Corporation's own review of the asbestos claim and resolution activity, the Corporation determined that an adjustment to the accrual was required due to the increase in mesothelioma claim activity compared with what had been forecasted in the December 2012 study. Accordingly, the Corporation increased its asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims by $78 million, which was included in "Asbestos-related charge" in the consolidated statements of income. At December 31, 2014, the asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims was $513 million, and approximately 22 percent of the recorded liability related to pending claims and approximately 78 percent related to future claims.

In October 2015, the Corporation requested Ankura to review its historical asbestos claim and resolution activity and determine the appropriateness of updating its December 2014 study. In response to that request, Ankura reviewed and analyzed data through September 30, 2015. In December 2015, Ankura stated that an update of its December 2014 study would not provide a more likely estimate of future events than the estimate reflected in its study and, therefore, the estimate in that study remained applicable. Based on the Corporation's own review of the asbestos claim and resolution activity and Ankura's response, the Corporation determined that no change to the accrual was required. At December 31, 2015, the asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims was $437 million, and approximately 21 percent of the recorded liability related to pending claims and approximately 79 percent related to future claims.

In October 2016, the Corporation requested Ankura to review its historical asbestos claim and resolution activity and determine the appropriateness of updating its December 2014 study. In response to the request, Ankura reviewed and analyzed asbestos-related claim and resolution data through September 30, 2016. The resulting study, completed by Ankura in December 2016, provided estimates for the undiscounted cost of disposing of pending and future claims against UCC and Amchem, excluding future defense and processing costs, for both a 15-year period and through the terminal year of 2049.

Based on the study completed in December 2016 by Ankura, and the Corporation's own review of the asbestos claim and resolution activity, it was determined that an adjustment to the accrual was necessary. The Corporation determined that using the estimate through the terminal year of 2049 was more appropriate due to increasing knowledge and data about the costs to resolve claims and diminished volatility in filing rates. Using the range in the Ankura December 2016 study, which was estimated to be between $502 million and $565 million for the undiscounted cost of disposing of pending and future claims, the Corporation increased its asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims through the terminal year of 2049 by $104 million, included in "Asbestos-related charge" in the consolidated statements of income. At December 31, 2016, the Corporation's asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims was $486 million, and approximately 14 percent of the recorded liability related to pending claims and approximately 86 percent related to future claims.

Estimating the Liability for Asbestos-Related Defense and Processing Costs

In September 2014, the Corporation began to implement a strategy designed to reduce and to ultimately stabilize and forecast defense costs associated with asbestos-related matters. The strategy included a number of important changes including: invoicing protocols including capturing costs by plaintiff; review of existing counsel roles, work processes and workflow; and utilization of enterprise legal management software, which enabled claim-specific tracking of asbestos-related defense and processing costs. The Corporation reviewed the information generated from this new strategy and determined that it now had the ability to reasonably estimate asbestos-related defense and processing costs for the same periods that it estimates its asbestos-related liability for pending and future claims. The Corporation believes that including estimates of the liability for asbestos-related defense and processing costs provides a more complete assessment and measure of the liability associated with resolving asbestos-related matters, which the Corporation believes is preferable in these circumstances.

In October 2016, in addition to the study for asbestos claim and resolution activity, the Corporation requested Ankura to review asbestos-related defense and processing costs and provide an estimate of a reasonable forecast of defense and processing costs associated with resolving pending and future asbestos-related claims facing UCC and Amchem for the same periods of time that the Corporation uses for estimating resolution costs. In December 2016, Ankura conducted the study and provided the Corporation with an estimate of future defense and processing costs for both a 15-year period and through the terminal year of 2049. The resulting study estimated asbestos-related defense and processing costs for pending and future asbestos claims to be between $1,009 million and $1,081 million through the terminal year of 2049.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, the Corporation elected to change its method of accounting for asbestos-related defense and processing costs from expensing as incurred to estimating and accruing a liability. This change is believed to be preferable as asbestos-related defense and processing costs represent expenditures related to legacy activities that do not contribute to current or future revenue generating activities of the Corporation. The change is also reflective of the manner in which the Corporation manages its asbestos-related exposure, including careful monitoring of the correlation between defense spending and resolution costs. Together, these two sources of cost more accurately represent the “total cost” of resolving asbestos-related claims now and in the future.

This accounting policy change has been reflected as a change in accounting estimate effected by a change in accounting principle. As a result of this accounting policy change and based on the December 2016 Ankura study of asbestos-related defense and processing costs and the Corporation's own review of the data, a pretax charge for asbestos-related defense and processing costs of $1,009 million was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016, included in “Asbestos-related charge” in the consolidated statements of income. The Corporation's total asbestos-related liability, including defense and processing costs, was $1,490 million at December 31, 2016, and was included in “Asbestos-related liabilities - current” and “Asbestos-related liabilities - noncurrent” in the consolidated balance sheets.

Insurance Receivables

The Corporation has receivables for insurance recoveries related to its asbestos liability as well as receivables for defense and resolution costs submitted to insurance carriers that have a settlement agreement in place regarding their asbestos-related insurance coverage. The Corporation continues to believe that its recorded receivable for insurance recoveries from all insurance carriers is probable of collection. At December 31, 2016, the Corporation's receivable for insurance recoveries related to its asbestos liability was $41 million ($61 million at December 31, 2015).

Summary

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 and the average cost of defending and disposing of each such claim, as well as the numerous uncertainties surrounding asbestos litigation in the United States, 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.

Other 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.

Purchase Commitments

At December 31, 2016, the Corporation had various outstanding commitments for take-or-pay agreements, with remaining terms extending from 1 to 14 years. Such commitments were not in excess of current market prices. The fixed and determinable portion of obligations under purchase commitments at December 31, 2016, is presented in the following table:



Fixed and Determinable Portion of Take-or-Pay Obligations at December 31, 2016 In millions
2017	$	42
2018	32
2019	31
2020	31
2021	30
2022 and beyond	164
Total	$	330