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EPA Recognizes Baxter Healthcare Corporation as a Corporate Leader of its Performance Track Program

EPA Recognizes Baxter Healthcare Corporation as a Corporate Leader of its Performance Track Program

Published 02-24-05

Submitted by Baxter International Inc.

DEERFIELD, IL - Baxter Healthcare Corporation has been selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the agency's three inaugural Performance Track Corporate Leaders, a program recognizing corporate-wide environmental leadership.

The EPA has established this new designation for companies that meet a number of key criteria, including the involvement of a large number of facilities in the agency's Performance Track program, "beyond compliance" environmental performance and environmental excellence demonstrated at the corporate level. Baxter, Johnson & Johnson and Rockwell Collins are the first three recipients of this new EPA designation.

In selecting Baxter as a Performance Track Corporate Leader, the EPA cited Baxter's longstanding commitment to corporate environmental leadership, particularly related to innovative practices, supply chain performance and corporate governance.

"The Performance Track Corporate Leader designation recognizes companies for their strong environmental performance beyond current regulatory requirements," said EPA Acting Administrator Steve Johnson. "This voluntary partnership program is based on the premise that government should complement its existing regulatory programs with new tools and strategies that not only protect people and the environment, but also capture opportunities for reducing cost and spurring technological innovation."

To qualify for this designation, the EPA requires that at least five of the company's facilities be Performance Track members, and 25 percent of the company's operations be either Performance Track members or members of similar performance-based state programs. In Baxter's case, eight of the company's 18 major U.S. facilities (44 percent of U.S. facilities) and two smaller U.S. facilities are already Performance Track members.

Building upon its focus on environmental excellence, Baxter has pledged to continuously improve its environmental performance and that of the company's suppliers and/or customers as part of its commitment as a Performance Track Corporate Leader. It has also committed to increase the number of facilities participating in the Performance Track program to at least 50 percent within five years of designation. Performance Track is a public/private partnership recognizing top environmental performance among participating U.S. facilities of all types, sizes and complexity.

"We are proud to receive this recognition from the EPA, and look forward to continuing our collaboration through the many valuable programs like Performance Track," said Robert L. Parkinson, Jr., Baxter's chairman and chief executive officer.

"In sharing our own experiences and performance with others through programs such as these, we are constantly challenged to raise the bar and often come away with new ideas for product and process improvement."

Baxter's commitment to advancing environmental stewardship and social responsibility spans more than two decades. Baxter has been recognized by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in

the World, as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Business Ethics Magazine, and is the 2004 Medical Products Industry Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Baxter is a member of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, the Business Environmental Leadership Council of the Pew Center on Global Climate Exchange, the Chicago Climate Exchange, the U.S. EPA's Climate Leaders, the Ethics Officers Association and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. Baxter endorses the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) principles and is an organizational stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). To learn more about Baxter's sustainability initiatives, please visit www.baxter.com/sustainability. To learn more about the EPA Performance Track Program, please visit www.epa.gov/performancetrack/corporateleaders/index.htm.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal operating subsidiary of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX). Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, assists health-care professionals and their patients with the treatment of complex medical conditions, including cancer, hemophilia, immune disorders, kidney disease and trauma. The company applies its expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to make a meaningful difference in patients' lives.

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Baxter International Inc.

Baxter International Inc.

At Baxter, sustainability means creating lasting social, environmental and economic value by addressing the needs of the company’s wide-ranging stakeholder base. The company's sustainability efforts support Baxter's mission to apply innovative science in the development of products and therapies that save and sustain patients' lives.

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