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How climate change can be addressed through executive compensation

Illustration of a deal being closed.

Illustration of a deal being closed.

肯托

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are increasingly becoming incorporated across all aspects of organizations, including business strategies, operations and product/service offerings.

Recentglobal research of boards of directorsby Willis Towers Watson found that 70 to 80 percent of respondents have identified ESG priorities and developed ESG implementation plans. However, only 48 percent have fully incorporated ESG into their businesses, indicating that organizations are at different stages in their ESG journeys. While the most cited reason for taking ESG actions is that they see it as the right thing to do, over three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents indicate that they believe ESG is a key contributor to strong financial performance.

尽管许多组织都采用了ESG原则,但高管和董事会可以做更多的事情来满足机构投资者,客户,员工和其他利益相关者的要求,尤其是在气候变化风险方面。

约有41%的受访者将环境(包括气候变化)排名为他们的领先ESG优先事项;43%的人预计它将在三年内排名第一。

A particularly effective way to advance ESG principles is through redefining responsible leadership. And one of the most useful tools in prompting leaders to address climate change and make their organizations more sustainable is through compensation and incentive programs, and the incorporation of new climate-action metrics into such programs.

Rising demand for sustainable solutions

The drive to make companies more climate resilient and sustainable started with institutional investors, long aware of climate risk. Consumer awareness, likewise, has grown significantly as climate change becomes more apparent in their daily lives amid news stories about extreme weather, such as wildfires.

选择政策符合自己利益的品牌时,许多消费者比以往任何时候都更有意识。对于某些人来说,这种态度是他们选择为工作的公司的一个因素,进一步鼓励组织纳入气候行动和可持续性以及其他ESG标准,以帮助吸引和吸引最佳人才。竞彩足球app怎么下载

只有48%的CEO正在其运营中实施可持续性。竞彩足球app怎么下载

尽管有这个背景,many boards have not incorporated climate awareness进入他们的组织。Willis Towers Watson进行的公司公共披露的分析表明,虽然大约有11%的欧洲公司中有11%的二氧化碳排放量与其激励计划有关,但只有2%的美国标准普尔500年公司拥有它。

我们期待的是,在未来三年中,受访者五分之四(78%)的调查受访者计划更改他们对执行激励计划中对ESG优先事项的使用,其中40%希望将ESG措施引入长期激励计划,几乎三分之一希望增加环境措施的突出性。

Executives acknowledge need for climate action

尽管高管薪酬和奖励计划中缺乏环境和气候指标,但高管承认有必要应对气候风险。

根据2019年联合国(联合国)和埃森哲的调查, 71 percent of CEOs believe that — with increased commitment and action — business can play a critical role in contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Yet only 48 percent of CEOs are implementing sustainability into their operations, consistent with the findings from Willis Towers Watson’s research as noted earlier.

我们的研究发现,将ESG指标纳入高管薪酬计划时所引用的最常见挑战包括设定目标(52%),确定(48%)和定义(47%)的绩效指标以及建立时间段以影响有意义的变化(35%))。

鉴于这些回应,可以公平地假设缺乏标准化的气候变化指标正在阻止更广泛地采用在高管薪酬中包括气候行动。此外,每个企业都有可衡量的碳足迹。因此,董事会可以减少该足迹(以达到碳中立性的最终目标)为其组织的指标,并将其纳入高管薪酬。

由于每个行业都不同,因此需要通过行业定制的气候行动来激励气候行动的指标,这是通过可持续性问责制标准委员会或其他气候变化披露框架(例如与气候相关财务工作组的工作组)所提供的行业特定标准所强调的。竞彩足球app怎么下载披露(TCFD)。

As organizations refine their climate change strategies and disclosures, they can start to consider the linkages to their executive compensation programs.

Multiple ways to link executive pay to climate action

正如我们的研究所表明的那样,更多的董事会将在未来几年将相关的气候行动措施与执行激励计划联系起来。有几种方法可以建立联系,从基础到修饰符到短期激励措施(STI)的计划(STI)计划在长期激励计划(LTI)计划中进行关键的绩效指标(KPI),以实现独立的超长期激励计划。

  • 基础(或最低资金阈值)对于具有有意义的高二氧化碳排放的公司而言,最合适的是新引入气候可持续性指标。竞彩足球app怎么下载它应包括在其他激励计划指标下需要支付的阈值或基本二氧化碳排放水平。
  • An individual performance rating modifier可以针对个人的角色量身定制,并改善视线,以实现更定性或战略性的气候变化目标,但它可能不会促进参与者的合作以实现共同的物质目标。
  • Plan modifiersare standalone metrics that consider the "how" and the "what." A modifier allows for the entire STI or LTI award payout to be increased or decreased by a certain percentage. If the underlying target is met, then no modification would be made and the underlying STI or LTI award would be made based on the other metrics.
  • KPIS提供一种直接的度量,以增强气候变化的重要性,通常很容易传达,可量化的目标。加权更高的指标需要与资金指标的明确联系,但是KPI需要具有物质权重,以证明其对计划参与者和外部利益相关者的重要性。
  • LTI计划中的KPI引入独立的气候变化指标,如果有更长的时间范围来产生可衡量的结果(例如碳排放减少),则最合适。然而,缺点是绩效期限可能会稀释势头以实现可持续性结果,这是LTI计划绩效的关键驱动力,并且可以表现出财务/市场绩效的强调。竞彩足球app怎么下载
  • Standalone incentive plans与其他激励计划分开,其唯一目的是衡量可持续性绩效并降低气候风险(例如与可持续性策略保持一致的超长号术语)。竞彩足球app怎么下载这样的计划鼓励参与者对绩效进行长期看法,但可能很难交流或视为其他激励措施的重复性。

Because most CO2 emission reduction targets tend to have longer-term horizons, the typical annual and three-year incentives may not be directly aligned with these goals. Nonetheless, even short-term incentives can have a significant impact in terms of corporate culture. But to encourage longer-term decision making (for example, a target period of 10 years) often associated with large capital investments, and to emphasize its prominence, companies could introduce a separate, hyper-long-term incentive plan focused solely on CO2 emission reductions.

现代的激励计划基于时间为恒定的时间(例如一年或三年的性能期)和性能作为变量(实现阈值,目标,伸展目标)。但是,Hyper-LTI可以允许不同的变化,因为性能目标可以视为恒定(CO2排放减少50%),并且可以将时间视为变量。因此,通过激励上空来鼓励早期实现目标,并以激励性的方面惩罚二氧化碳减少目标的延迟成就。

与气候相关的措施还可以通过减少的能源消耗和浪费来提供投资回报,除了诸如投资者,客户和员工等利益相关者的善意之外。

实施这种激励安排可能并不简单。公司将需要考虑以及如何最好地重新平衡其他薪水的组成部分,如何处理Mega-LTI赠款的披露,并确保对目标进行足够的拉伸,以使代理顾问不认为这些计划具有软目标作为方式提高行政工资。大型机构投资者支持二氧化碳排放和激励措施之间长期对齐的建议,前提是对量子和机会进行了适当的校准,并精心布置了机械师。

要说服怀疑论者,专注于底线

For boards and management that are a little more suspect of climate sustainability, consider that climate-related measures can provide a return on investment through reduced energy consumption and waste in addition to the goodwill of stakeholders such as investors, customers and employees.

As the World Economic Forum’s January 2019 publication on董事会有效的气候治理sets out, monetary incentives for senior management teams should be tied to long-term organizational goals that contribute to resilience and prosperity over time. There is little to prevent linking climate-risk and opportunity-related factors to compensation if they are material to an organization’s long-term sustainability, value creation and risk mitigation.

Executive compensation always has been an effective tool to foster innovation. Now we must marshal its power to encourage the march toward a climate resilient future.

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韦尔福勒

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