2022 MM&K / GECN Group research on how ESG PLUS is shaping pay incentives across the world’s top companies

MM&K (part of the GECN group) is pleased to publish its 2022 research on how the largest listed companies across the world use ESG in their incentives, in its report “2022 and Beyond: Global Trends in the use of ESG Plus Metrics in Executive Incentives”.

There can be no doubt that businesses are truly under the spotlight to keep ahead of evolving priorities and expectations for performance beyond their bottom line. As such, our report shows clearly that business leaders can expect the non-financial performance of their businesses to impact their paycheques now more than ever.

Our report covers the practices of the world’s top companies, studying the policies of companies in the:

• UK FTSE 100
• US S&P 100
• Germany DAX 30
• France CAC 40
• Canada TSX 60
• Switzerland SMI 20
• Australia ASX 100
• Singapore STI 30
• South Africa JSE TOP 40

To capture the range of non-financial performance beyond Environmental, Social, and Governance concerns, we have introduced ESG Plus which also studies Customer (e.g., customer satisfaction, product quality and safety) and Community (e.g., community investment, community complaints) concerns.

Among the findings were that the prevalence of ESG Plus metrics in pay has increased across the world since last year; despite potential expectations that they would have taken a back-seat during the crisis.

Likewise, ESG Plus metrics have become more prevalent in most economic sectors, with Financials and Materials taking the lead (both have ESG Plus metrics in 91% of plans) whilst ESG Plus metrics are least common in Consumer Discretionary (59%) and IT (56%).

ESG Plus incentivising is more strongly felt in short-term goals than in long-term objectives, as 71% of short-term incentives are attached to some ESG Plus metric(s), in contrast from only 16% of long-term incentives.

Our report has all you need on how ESG Plus is shaping pay in the top firms across the world, don’t miss out, download your free copy here.

For more information contact Margarita Skripina.

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