Apple Drops ESG Links From Top Executives’ Pay Packages
The company’s retreat follows moves by Starbucks, Salesforce and Mastercard.
Illustration: 731; Source: Bloomberg
Two years ago, many of America’s largest companies began stripping diversity targets out of executive pay packages. Now, environmental measures—including goals tied to climate emissions—are beginning to face a similar fate.
Apple Inc. quietly dropped a so-called “ESG modifier” from its 2025 pay packages for Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and other top executives, according to a corporate filing last month. The provision, in place since 2021, had allowed Apple’s board to adjust annual bonuses up or down by as much as 10% depending on the company’s performance on a variety of measures, including greenhouse-gas reductions and renewable energy use among suppliers.