Item 1. BUSINESS

General

Johnson Controls International plc, headquartered in Cork, Ireland, is a global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, serving a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. The Company’s products, services, systems and solutions advance the safety, comfort and intelligence of spaces to serve people, places and the planet. The Company is committed to helping its customers win and creating greater value for all of its stakeholders through its strategic focus on buildings.

Johnson Controls was originally incorporated in the state of Wisconsin in 1885 as Johnson Electric Service Company to manufacture, install and service automatic temperature regulation systems for buildings and was renamed to Johnson Controls, Inc. in 1974. In 2005, Johnson Controls acquired York International, a global supplier of heating, ventilating, air-conditioning ("HVAC") and refrigeration equipment and services. In 2014, Johnson Controls acquired Air Distribution Technologies, Inc., one of the largest independent providers of air distribution and ventilation products in North America. In 2015, Johnson Controls formed a joint venture with Hitachi to expand its building related product offerings. In 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. and Tyco completed their combination (the "Merger"), combining Johnson Controls portfolio of building efficiency solutions with Tyco’s portfolio of fire and security solutions. Following the Merger, Tyco changed its name to “Johnson Controls International plc.”

In 2016, the Company completed the spin-off of its automotive business into Adient plc, an independent, publicly traded company. In 2019, the Company sold its Power Solutions business to BCP Acquisitions LLC, an entity controlled by

investment funds managed by Brookfield Capital Partners LLC, completing the Company’s transformation into a pure-play building technologies and solutions provider.

The Company is a global leader in engineering, manufacturing and commissioning building products and systems, including residential and commercial HVAC equipment, industrial refrigeration systems, controls, security systems, fire-detection systems and fire-suppression solutions. The Company further serves customers by providing technical services, including maintenance, management, repair, retrofit and replacement of equipment (in the HVAC, industrial refrigeration, security and fire-protection space), energy-management consulting and data-driven “smart building” services and solutions powered by its OpenBlue software platform and capabilities. The Company partners with customers by leveraging its broad product portfolio and digital capabilities powered by OpenBlue, together with its direct channel service and solutions capabilities, to deliver outcome-based solutions across the lifecycle of a building that address customers’ needs to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Business Segments

The Company conducts its business through four business segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific and Global Products.

Building Solutions North America: Building Solutions North America designs, sells, installs and services HVAC, controls, building management, refrigeration, integrated electronic security and integrated fire-detection and suppression systems for commercial, industrial, retail, small business, institutional and governmental customers in the United States and Canada. Building Solutions North America also provides energy efficiency solutions and technical services, including inspection, scheduled maintenance, and repair and replacement of mechanical and controls systems, as well as data-driven “smart building” solutions, to non-residential building and industrial applications in the United States and Canadian marketplace.

Building Solutions EMEA/LA: Building Solutions EMEA/LA designs, sells, installs, and services HVAC, controls, building management, refrigeration, integrated electronic security, integrated fire-detection and suppression systems, and provides technical services, including data-driven “smart building” solutions, to markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Building Solutions Asia Pacific: Building Solutions Asia Pacific designs, sells, installs, and services HVAC, controls, building management, refrigeration, integrated electronic security, integrated fire-detection and suppression systems, and provides technical services, including data-driven “smart building” solutions, to the Asia Pacific marketplace.

Global Products: Global Products designs, manufactures and sells HVAC equipment, controls software and software services for residential and commercial applications to commercial, industrial, retail, residential, small business, institutional and governmental customers worldwide. In addition, Global Products designs, manufactures and sells refrigeration equipment and controls globally. The Global Products business also designs, manufactures and sells fire protection, fire suppression and security products, including intrusion security, anti-theft devices, access control, and video surveillance and management systems, for commercial, industrial, retail, residential, small business, institutional and governmental customers worldwide. Global Products includes the Johnson Controls-Hitachi joint venture.

For more information on the Company’s segments, refer to Note 20, "Segment Information," of the notes to consolidated financial statements.

Products, Systems, Services and Solutions

The Company sells and installs its commercial HVAC equipment and systems, control systems, security systems, fire-detection and fire suppression systems, equipment and services primarily through its extensive direct channel, consisting of a global network of sales and service offices. Significant sales are also generated through global third-party channels, such as distributors of air-conditioning, controls, security and fire-detection and suppression products. The Company’s large base of current customers leads to significant repeat business for the maintenance, retrofit and replacement markets. The Company is also able to leverage its installed base to generate sales for its service business. Trusted building brands, such as YORK®, Hitachi Air Conditioning, Metasys®, Ansul, Ruskin®, Titus®, Frick®, PENN®, Sabroe®, Silent-Aire®, Simplex® and Grinnell®, together with the breadth and depth of the products, systems and solutions offered by the Company, give it what it believes to be the most diverse portfolio in the building technology industry.

The Company has developed software platforms, including on-premises platforms and cloud-based software services, and integrated its products and services with digital capabilities to provide data-driven solutions to create smarter, safer and more

sustainable buildings. In fiscal 2020, the Company launched its software platform, OpenBlue, enabling enterprises to manage all aspects of their physical spaces delivering sustainability, new occupant experiences, safety and security by combining the Company’s building expertise with cutting-edge technology, including AI-powered service solutions such as remote diagnostics, predictive maintenance, compliance monitoring and advanced risk assessments. The Company leverages its digital and data-driven products and services to offer integrated and customizable solutions focused on delivering outcomes to customers, including OpenBlue Buildings-as-a-Service, OpenBlue Net Zero Buildings-as-a-Service and OpenBlue Healthy Buildings. These services are generally designed to generate recurring revenue for the Company as it supports its customers in achieving their desired outcomes.

In fiscal 2021, approximately 37% of sales originated from product offerings, 36% of sales originated from installations and 27% of sales originated from service offerings.

Competition

The Company conducts its operations through thousands of individual contracts that are either negotiated or awarded on a competitive basis. Key factors in the award of contracts include system and service performance, quality, price, design, reputation, technology, application engineering capability and construction or project management expertise. Competitors for HVAC equipment, security, fire-detection, fire suppression and controls in the residential and non-residential marketplace include many local, regional, national and international providers. Larger competitors include Honeywell International, Inc.; Siemens Smart Infrastructure, an operating group of Siemens AG; Schneider Electric SA; Carrier Global Corporation; Trane Technologies plc; Daikin Industries, Ltd.; Lennox International, Inc.; GC Midea Holding Co, Ltd. and Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. In addition, the Company competes in a highly fragmented building services market. The loss of any individual contract or customer would not have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Business Strategy

The Company’s business strategy is to sustain and expand its position as a leader in smart and sustainable building solutions by offering a full spectrum of products and solutions for customer buildings across the globe. The Company’s core strategy remains focused on creating growth platforms, driving operational improvements and creating a high-performance culture. The Company has strong positions in attractive and growing end-markets across HVAC, controls, fire, security and services, enhanced by its comprehensive product portfolio and substantial installed base. The Company believes that it is well positioned to capitalize on the emerging and prevalent trends in the buildings industry, including decarbonization, healthy buildings/indoor environmental quality and smart buildings. To capitalize on these trends, the Company is building on its fiscal 2021 priorities of maintaining leading positions in commercial HVAC and building management systems, as well as enabling growth through digital, to develop and leverage new digital technologies and capabilities into outcomes powered by its OpenBlue software platform. In furtherance of these goals, the Company has three strategic priorities:

Capitalize on Key Growth Vectors: Decarbonization, healthy buildings/indoor environmental quality and smart buildings represent key growth opportunities for the Company. The Company seeks to leverage its existing portfolio breadth and investments in product development, combined with the expansion of its digital products and capabilities powered by OpenBlue, to offer differentiated solutions and innovative deal structures to help customers achieve their objectives. The Company intends to invest in products and expand its partnerships to power innovation that will allow it to provide differentiated services that are tailored to its customers’ desired outcomes.

Accelerate in High Growth Digital Services, Regions and Verticals: The Company is focused on transforming its large service business through its OpenBlue digital technologies and enabled by the Company’s installed base, domain expertise and global coverage. The Company further intends to expand its presence in high growth regions and invest in high growth verticals within the markets it serves, including healthcare, commercial offices/campus, education and data centers.

Sustain a High-Performance, Customer-Centric Culture: The Company recognizes that developing talent and creating positive customer experiences is central to accomplishing its business strategies. The Company is investing in its talent to build a diverse workforce that is digital capable, solutions oriented and focused on continuous learning and growth. The Company aims to leverage its talent capabilities and training to create a customer-focused culture to drive customer loyalty and decisions.

To realize these priorities, the Company is leveraging its technology leadership, comprehensive product portfolio, global presence, substantial installed base and strong channels to monetize the lifecycle opportunities of install, service, retrofit and replacement which are established and delivered by the Company’s direct field businesses and third-party channels across the globe. The Company is augmenting its strategic priorities with disciplined execution, productivity enhancements and sustainable cost management to create a path to realize expanded margins and enhanced profitability.

Backlog

The Company’s backlog is applicable to its sales of systems and services. At September 30, 2021, the backlog was $10.5 billion, of which $10.1 billion was attributable to the field business. The backlog amount outstanding at any given time is not necessarily indicative of the amount of revenue to be earned in the upcoming fiscal year.

At September 30, 2021, remaining performance obligations were $16.1 billion, which is $5.6 billion higher than the Company's backlog of $10.5 billion. Differences between the Company’s remaining performance obligations and backlog are primarily due to the following:

• Remaining performance obligations include large, multi-purpose contracts to construct hospitals, schools and other governmental buildings, which are services to be performed over the building's lifetime with average initial contract terms of 25 to 35 years for the entire term of the contract versus backlog which includes only the lifecycle period of these contracts which approximates five years;

• The Company has elected to exclude from remaining performance obligations certain contracts with customers with a term of one year or less or contracts that are cancelable without substantial penalty while these contracts are included within backlog; and

• Remaining performance obligations include the full remaining term of service contracts with substantial termination penalties versus backlog which includes one year for all outstanding service contracts.

The Company will continue to report backlog as it believes it is a useful measure of evaluating the Company's operational performance and relationship to total orders.

Raw Materials

Raw materials used by the Company’s businesses in connection with their operations include steel, aluminum, brass, copper, polypropylene and certain flurochemicals used in fire suppression agents. The Company also uses semiconductors and other electronic components in the manufacture of its products. During portions of fiscal 2021, the Company experienced higher than normal commodity and component prices and, in some instances, shortages due to global inflation, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, increased demand and other regulatory and macroeconomic factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. These trends had a negative impact on the Company’s results of operations in fiscal 2021, although they were largely mitigated by the Company through proactive measures such as making purchases with the anticipation of higher demand, expanding and redistributing its supplier network, supplier financing, price increases and productivity improvements. The Company believes that the macroeconomic trends experienced in fiscal 2021 will continue into fiscal 2022. Therefore, the Company could experience further disruptions, shortages and price inflation in the future, the effect of which will depend on the Company’s ability to successfully mitigate and offset the impact of these events. In fiscal 2022, commodity prices and availability could fluctuate throughout the year and could significantly affect the Company’s results of operations.

Intellectual Property

Generally, the Company seeks statutory protection for strategic or financially important intellectual property developed in connection with its business. Certain intellectual property, where appropriate, is protected by contracts, licenses, confidentiality or other agreements. From time to time, the Company takes action to protect its businesses by asserting its intellectual property rights against third-party infringers.

The Company owns numerous U.S. and non-U.S. patents (and their respective counterparts), the more important of which cover those technologies and inventions embodied in current products or which are used in the manufacture of those products. While the Company believes patents are important to its business operations and in the aggregate constitute a valuable asset, no single patent, or group of patents, is critical to the success of the business. The Company, from time to time, grants licenses under its patents and technology and receives licenses under patents and technology of others.

The Company’s trademarks, certain of which are material to its business, are registered or otherwise legally protected in the U.S. and many non-U.S. countries where products and services of the Company are sold. The Company, from time to time, becomes involved in trademark licensing transactions.

Most works of authorship produced for the Company, such as computer programs, catalogs and sales literature, carry appropriate notices indicating the Company’s claim to copyright protection under U.S. law and appropriate international treaties.

Environmental, Health and Safety Matters

Laws addressing the protection of the environment and workers’ safety and health govern the Company’s ongoing global operations. They generally provide for civil and criminal penalties, as well as injunctive and remedial relief, for noncompliance or require remediation of sites where Company-related materials have been released into the environment.

The Company has expended substantial resources globally, both financial and managerial, to comply with environmental laws and worker safety laws and maintains procedures designed to foster and ensure compliance. Certain of the Company’s businesses are, or have been, engaged in the handling or use of substances that may impact workplace health and safety or the environment. The Company is committed to protecting its workers and the environment against the risks associated with these substances.

The Company’s operations and facilities have been, and in the future may become, the subject of formal or informal enforcement actions or proceedings for noncompliance with environmental laws and worker safety laws or for the remediation of Company-related substances released into the environment. Such matters typically are resolved with regulatory authorities through commitments to compliance, abatement or remediation programs and, in some cases, payment of penalties. See Note 23, "Commitments and Contingencies," of the notes to consolidated financial statements for further discussion of environmental matters.

Government Regulation and Supervision

The Company's operations are subject to numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations, both within and outside the United States, in areas such as consumer protection, government contracts, international trade, environmental protection, labor and employment, tax, licensing and others. For example, most U.S. states and non-U.S. jurisdictions in which the Company operates have licensing laws directed specifically toward the alarm and fire suppression industries. The Company's security businesses currently rely extensively upon the use of wireline and wireless telephone service to communicate signals. Wireline and wireless telephone companies in the U.S. are regulated by the federal and state governments. In addition, government regulation of fire safety codes can impact the Company's fire businesses. The Company’s businesses may also be affected by changes in governmental regulation of refrigerants and energy efficiency standards, noise regulation and product safety regulations, including changes related to hydro fluorocarbons/emissions reductions efforts, energy conservation standards and the regulation of fluorinated gases. These and other laws and regulations impact the manner in which the Company conducts its business, and changes in legislation or government policies can affect the Company's worldwide operations, both favorably and unfavorably. For a more detailed description of the various laws and regulations that affect the Company's business, see Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Regulatory Capital Expenditures

The Company’s efforts to comply with numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations applicable to its business and products often results in capital expenditures. The Company makes capital expenditures to design and upgrade its fire and security products to comply with or exceed standards applicable to the alarm, fire suppression and security industries. The Company also makes capital expenditures to meet or exceed energy efficiency standards, including the regulation of refrigerants, hydro fluorocarbons/emissions reductions efforts and the regulation of fluorinated gasses, particularly with respect to the Company’s HVAC products and solutions. The Company’s ongoing environmental compliance program also results in capital expenditures. Regulatory and environmental considerations are a part of all significant capital expenditure decisions; however, expenditures in fiscal 2021 related solely to regulatory compliance were not material. It is management’s opinion that the amount of any future capital expenditures related to compliance with any individual regulation or grouping of related regulations will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial results or competitive position in any one year. See Note 23, "Commitments and Contingencies," of the notes to consolidated financial statements for further discussion of environmental matters.

Human Capital Management

Overview and Governance

The Company strives to continuously drive and develop its High-Performance Culture. The Company’s High-Performance Culture represents the practices and behaviors, underpinned by the Company’s values, that lead to sustained growth, winning results and satisfied customers.

The responsibility to develop and maintain a High-Performance Culture is owned, embedded and executed throughout the Company. The Chief Human Resources Officer ("CHRO") is responsible for establishing the Company’s strategy to drive a High-Performance Culture and ensuring its execution across the Company. The Compensation and Talent Development Committee of the Board of Directors is the primary overseer of the Company’s High-Performance Culture strategy and execution. The Chief Executive Officer, the CHRO, the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and other senior leaders within the Company are responsible for the execution of the strategy and engage with the Compensation and Talent Development Committee, the Governance and Sustainability Committee and the full Board of Directors on the critical components driving the Company’s High-Performance Culture, including discussions of human capital trends, practices and operations, diversity and inclusion, health and safety, leadership development and succession planning. Key components driving the Company’s High-Performance Culture include:

Health and Safety

Health and Wellness, Safety and Environment are the three pillars of the Company’s Zero Harm vision. The Company’s health and safety programs are designed around global standards with appropriate variations addressing multiple jurisdictions and regulations, specific hazards and unique working environments of the Company’s manufacturing, service and install, and headquarter operations. In response to COVID-19, the Company created new Zero Harm standards and processes to ensure the ongoing health and safety of its workplaces, including extensive communication and education programs to encourage all employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when eligible and the organization of on-site vaccination clinics at the Company’s facilities. Throughout fiscal year 2021, as employees in many countries were faced with continued work-from-home instructions, the Company’s focus on employee well-being continued with the utilization of global and regional well-being councils, addressing physical, mental, social and financial aspects of employee well-being during the pandemic. See "Impact of COVID-19 pandemic" included in Item 7, "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" for more information on human capital management actions taken by the Company in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Company requires each of its locations to perform regular safety audits to ensure proper safety policies, program procedures, analyses and training are in place. In addition, the Company engages an independent third-party conformity assessment and certification vendor to audit selected operations for adherence to its global health and safety standards. Safety culture and behavior-based safety initiatives have been deployed within the Company, including a multi-faceted policy focused on preventing distracted driving and the design and rollout of a new-style of platform ladder built to provide a safe working platform for employees. One safety policy that applies to all employees around the globe, regardless of rank, is every individual worker’s right to apply the “Stop Work” principle when uncertain about the health and safety of a particular task.

The Company utilizes a mixture of leading and lagging indicators to assess the health and safety performance of its operations. Lagging indicators include the OSHA Total Recordable Incident Rate ("TRIR") and the Lost Time (or Lost Workday) Incident Rate ("LTIR") based upon the number of incidents per 100 employees (or per 200,000 work hours). In fiscal year 2021, the Company had a TRIR of 0.37 and a LTIR of 0.12.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are embedded throughout the Company’s strategy to drive a High-Performance Culture. The Company recognizes that an inclusive culture that is diverse adds value to the Company and its customers through: the creation and delivery of innovative and outstanding products, services and outcomes; the cultivation of an engaged and empowered environment where employee productivity drives company growth; and the onboarding of high-performing talent into the organization to propel the Company's transformation and future. The Company believes that all employees and leaders are responsible for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Employees are empowered to take an active role in creating a culture that values uniqueness, celebrates creativity and drives innovation. The Company places a high value on inclusion, engaging employees in Business Resource Groups ("BRGs") — employee-led voluntary organizations of people with similar interests, experiences, or demographic characteristics. The Company maintains its BRG chapters worldwide across nine

categories: African American, Asia Pacific, LGBTQ+, Emerging Leaders, Hispanic, Disabilities, Veterans, Women and Sustainability. The Company uses these groups to serve as a source of inclusion and to support the acquisition and development of diverse talent internally and externally. Each BRG is open to all employees and sponsored and supported by senior leaders across the enterprise. The Company’s BRG structure includes monthly learning series, an active recruitment platform, an innovation hub, and community engagement. In fiscal year 2021, the Company realized over 350% growth in BRG membership.

The Company has implemented several measures that focus on ensuring accountabilities exist for making progress in diversity:

• Diversity Performance Goals:** The CEO and other senior leaders have diversity and inclusion objectives in their annual performance goals.

• Attracting Diverse Talent:** The Company commits to having a diverse talent pipeline by partnering with its business units in their workforce planning forecasts, as well as external organizations, to develop initiatives and goals to recruit diverse talent across all leadership and skill areas. In furtherance of this commitment, the Company launched its Future Leaders Internship Program, an enterprise-wide internship program designed to build a sustainable, diverse pipeline of talent with the critical skills needed to support the Company’s growth initiatives.

• Facilitating Engagement:** The Company launched the Perspectives Listening Series to facilitate honest, courageous and authentic conversations between colleagues on topics that are relevant and important to employees, communities and society as a whole. Topics covered include next generation leadership, gender equality, the social justice movement and fatherhood.

Talent Development

To maintain a High-Performance Culture, the Company must ensure the continued development and advancement of its people. Strategic talent reviews and succession planning occur on a planned cadence annually – globally and across all business areas. The Company continues to provide opportunities for the Company's employees to grow their careers, with over half of open management positions filled internally during fiscal year 2021.

The Company believes that high performance is an outcome of a person’s ability to change, adapt, and grow their capabilities throughout their career. The Company emphasizes real-life, real-time learning that enables a person to meet the demands of challenging and changing work and focuses on reinforcing key principles that are designed to support an individual’s effectiveness in his or her current job and in their future development. The Company provides technical and leadership training to employees, customers and suppliers who work for or with the Company’s products and services. In particular, the Company’s focus on employee development has been structured over the last several years through programs designed to imbed essential skills and reinforce strategic goals that are aligned to the Company’s culture, including:

• Digital Transformation:** In support of Company’s growth strategy, the Company is investing in developing digital leadership with personalized and targeted training programs designed to create digitally capable leaders, salespersons and technicians.

• Diversity and Inclusion:** The Company has developed a structured diversity and inclusion training continuum across the levels and stages of individuals' careers to develop and align employees with the Company’s diversity and inclusion strategy and values.

• Organizational Health:** The Company regularly assesses its progress using an Organizational Health Index survey and develops annual health plans comprised of priority initiatives to drive key behaviors and practices that is informed by the survey’s results. These plans are specifically tailored for each business unit and regularly assessed during the year, with managers accountable for introducing and teaching new skills or toolsets to their teams.

In fiscal year 2021, the Company offered a robust curriculum of over 150,000 learning activities available to employees, consisting of videos, courses, e-learning, documentation, articles and books, including over 5,000 active (in person or virtual) learning courses. In fiscal year 2021, over 1.1 million learning activities were completed by approximately 85,300 employees.

Employee Population and Demographics

As of September 30, 2021, the Company employed approximately 101,000 people worldwide, of which approximately 37,000 were employed in the United States and approximately 64,000 were outside the United States. Approximately 22,000 employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements or works councils and the Company believes that its relations with its labor unions are generally positive.

Employee Diversity as of September 30, 2021
Employees			Male			Female			Minority (1)
Total			77%			23%			26%
Managers			81%			19%			18%

(1) Male and female data represents all employees globally. Minority data represents U.S. employees only.

Seasonal Factors

Certain of the Company's sales are seasonal as the demand for residential air conditioning equipment and services generally increases in the summer months. This seasonality is mitigated by the other products and services provided by the Company that have no material seasonal effect.

Research and Development Expenditures

Refer to Note 1, "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies," of the notes to consolidated financial statements for research and development expenditures. In January 2021, the Company committed to invest 75 percent of its new product research and development in climate-related innovation to develop sustainable products and services.

Available Information

The Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, definitive proxy statements on Schedule 14A, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports filed pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, are made available free of charge through the Investor Relations section of the Company’s Internet website at http://www.johnsoncontrols.com as soon as reasonably practicable after the Company electronically files such material with, or furnishes it to, the SEC. Copies of any materials the Company files with the SEC can also be obtained free of charge through the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company also makes available, free of charge, its Code of Ethics, Corporate Governance Guidelines, Board of Directors committee charters and other information related to the Company on the Company’s Internet website or in printed form upon request. The Company is not including the information contained on the Company’s website as a part of, or incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.