This year's corporate responsibility report is available exclusively online. The report can be downloaded in whole as a PDF document. The individual sections can also be downloaded.

We also provide further information on our sustainability performance in our Financial Report and on our corporate website. To ensure this report is clearly structured and to avoid repetition, we refer to these two sources wherever appropriate.

>More in our 2010 Financial Report and on our corporate website

This report refers to all consolidated Group companies in which Linde has at least a 50-percent stake. The reporting period for key figures is the 2010 financial year. We also refer to events and developments that took place in the 2011 financial year prior to the editorial deadline (August 2011).

We use key indicators to benchmark our performance. They enable us to monitor our progress and identify scope for improvement. Wherever possible, we present our performance indicators over a four-year period.

Key performance indicators supplement the information presented in this report on our CR strategy, management and action item progress.

> More on CR performance indicators and data collection

Selected key performance indicators in this report were independently reviewed and subsequently assured by KPMG Sustainability. The audit was carried out in line with the International Standard for Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) confirmed that this report qualifies for the highest application level (A+) defined under the GRI standards.

> More on the GRI application level and the assurance

We have made significant changes to the structure of last year’s report. For instance, we have expanded on a number of topics, such as compliance, and added new indicators in these areas. It is our aim to make our corporate responsibility performance transparent as defined by GRI guidelines and to meet rising demands for information from our stakeholders.

The Linde Group published its first corporate responsibility report in 2005. We did not release a report in 2006, the year that Linde acquired the British gas company BOC. Since 2007, the report is published each year in English and in German.