36 (4) Operating lease commitments are described under “Of f Balance Sheet Assets and Obligations.” (5) Represents our firm purchase commitments on our forward pricing agreements as disclosed in Note 10 - Financial Instruments. (6) Defined benefit pension obligations reflect actuarially projected benefit payments which may dif fer from funding requirements based on local laws and regulations. (7) Unrecognized tax benefits of $85.7 million have not been reflected in the above table due to the inherent uncertainty as to the amount and timing of settlement, which is contingent upon the occurrence of possible future events, such as examinations and determinations by various tax authorities. Off Balance Sheet Assets and Obligations General Cable has entered into various leases related principally to certain administrative, manufacturing and distribution facilities and transportation equipment. Future minimum rental payments required under non-cancelable lease agreements at December 31, 2012 were as follows: 2013 — $ 41.0 million , 2014 — $ 33.5 million , 2015 — $ 31.8 million , 2016 — $ 27.4 million , 2017 — $ 18.6 million and thereafter $ 16.8 million . Rental expense recorded in income from continuing operations was $ 29.8 million , $ 20.7 million and $ 19.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2012 , 201 1 and 2010 , respectively . As of December 31, 2012 , the Company had $ 70.5 million in letters of credit, $ 285.9 million in various performance bonds and $ 193.5 million in other guarantees. Other guarantees include bank guarantees and advance payment bonds. These letters of credit, performance bonds and guarantees are periodically renewed and are generally related to risk associated with self-insurance claims, defined benefit plan obligations, contract performance, quality and other various bank and financing guarantees. Advance payment bonds are often required by customers when we obtain advance payments to secure the production of cable for long term contracts. The advance payment bonds provide the customer protection on their deposit in the event that the Company does not perform under the contract. See "Liquidity and Capital Resources" for excess availability under the Company’ s various credit borrowin gs. Envir onmental Matters The Company’ s expenditures for environmental compliance and remediation amounted to approximately $3.5 million, $3.3 million and $3.7 million in 2012 , 201 1 and 2010 , respectively . In addition, certain of the Company’ s subsidiaries have been named as potentially responsible parties in proceedings that involve environmental remediation. The Company had accrued $ 1.9 million at December 31, 2012 for all environmental liabilities. Environmental matters are described in Item 1 - Business, Item 3 - Legal Proceedings and Note 18 - Commitments and Contingencies. While it is dif ficult to estimate future environmental liabilities, the Company does not currently anticipate any material adverse ef fect on results of operations, cash flows or financial position as a result of compliance with federal, state, local or foreign environmental laws or regulations or remediation costs. Legal Matters Refer to Note 18 - Commitments and Contingencies for review of our litigation contingencies. Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates The Company’ s Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. A summary of significant accounting policies is provided in Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies. The application of these policies requires management to make estimates and judgments that af fect the amounts reflected in the consolidated financial statements. Management bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, information that is available to management about current events and actions the Company may take in the future and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may dif fer from these estimates under dif ferent assumptions or conditions. The most critical judgments impacting the financial statements include those policies described below . In addition, significant estimates and judgments include allowances for accounts receivable and deferred income taxes; legal, environmental, and asbestos liabilities; inventory costing and valuation; share-based compensation; uncertain tax positions; assets and obligations related to pension and other postretirement benefits; goodwill and intangible valuations; financial instruments; and revenue recognized under the percentage-of-completion method. There can be no assurance that actual results will not dif fer from these estimates. Revenue Recognition The majority of the Company’ s revenue is recognized when goods are shipped to the customer , title and risk of loss are transferred, pricing is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Most revenue transactions represent sales of inventory . A provision for payment discounts, product returns, warranty and customer rebates is estimated based upon historical experience and other relevant factors and is recorded within the same period that the revenue is recognized. The Company has a portion of long-term product installation contract revenue that is recognized based on the percentage-of-completion method generally based on the cost-to-cost method if there are reasonably reliable estimates of total revenue, total cost, and the extent of progress toward completion; and there is an enforceable agreement between parties who can fulfill their contractual obligations. Management reviews contract price and cost estimates periodically as the work progresses and reflects adjustments proportionate to the percentage-of-completion to income in the period when those estimates are revised. For these contracts, if a current estimate of total contract cost indicates a loss on a contract, the projected loss is recognized in full when determined. T able of Contents