Research Archives - GECN Group

Global CEO Pay: U.S. Leads, Tech Titans Surge, Performance Equity Prevails

kimbeard — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 07:26:22 +0000

How much do CEOs really earn—and why? The latest GECN Group preliminary report reveals that U.S. chief executives continue to command the highest pay globally, while also delivering outsized shareholder returns. Dive into fresh insights on how CEO compensation is shifting across regions, industries, and incentive structures, with tech leaders now topping the charts. Discover what’s driving global pay trends, why performance-based equity rules, and what boards must consider amid greater competition for executive talent.

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2025 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives: Climate Strategies and Incentive for Corporate Sustainability

kimbeard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:13:42 +0000

Corporate efforts to address environmental and climate impacts using executive incentives are the focus of 2025 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives: Climate Strategies and Incentives for Corporate Sustainability.

As the first multi-national group to collate and analyze executive ESG incentives globally, the GECN Group is uniquely positioned to assess ESG-based incentive trends. We have witnessed how these measures have evolved to reflect greater rigor and specificity. As climate action has become a global priority, we ask: What specific choices are large companies making on environmental incentive measures and goals? How do size, industry, and geography affect decision-making?

This report details environmental incentive trends across regions and industries, and provides timely insights and data useful for corporate decision-makers to align their environmental strategies with executive compensation.

Study Methodology

Globally, this research covers large companies in Australia, Canada, Europe, Singapore, South Africa, the UK, and the US. The GECN Group analyzed data on environmental incentives from the 2024 public disclosures of all 500+ companies listed in the following stock indexes:

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2024 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives: What’s Next?

kimbeard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:12:23 +0000

Having long-term trend data is essential to formulating strategies. This year’s annual research by the Global Governance and Executive Compensation (GECN) Group— 2024 Global Trends in ESG Incentives: What’s Next?—provides just that. As ESG initiatives have become the focus of investor and regulatory scrutiny, we ask: How is this affecting pay practices? What specific choices are companies making on targets and metrics? How do size, industry, and geography affect decision-making? Our research details stakeholder incentive and ESG trends across regions, industries, and company size. We are confident it provides timely insights and data useful for corporate decision-makers as they design their ESG and compensation strategies.

Study Methodology

Global in scope, this year’s research covers Australia, Canada, continental Europe, Singapore, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S.* The GECN Group analyzed data on ESG incentives from the most recent public disclosures of all 500+ companies listed in the following indexes:

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2023 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives: The Staying Power of ESG

kimbeard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:11:17 +0000

Longer-term trends are becoming evident as companies continue their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) journeys. This year’s sixth annual research report by the Global Governance and Executive Compensation Group (GECN) is titled 2023 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives: The Staying Power of ESG. It explores how companies around the world seek to incorporate ESG measures and other value drivers into their executive compensation plans. This year’s research picks up from last year and details the three-year global and regional trends in the use of stakeholder incentives. We find the regional differences among companies’ use of stakeholder incentives striking, and hope that you do too.

Study Methodology

This report deliberately refers to “stakeholders.” While we acknowledge that ESG is the most frequently used name for interests that extend beyond those of immediate shareholders, we use the all-inclusive term “stakeholder incentives.”

This year’s research is again global in scope, covering companies in Australia, Canada, continental Europe, Singapore, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. We researched and analyzed data on stakeholder incentives from the most recent public disclosures of all companies listed in the following indexes:

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2022 and Beyond: Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives

kimbeard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:10:27 +0000

Welcome to the fifth publication in a series of research reports issued by the Global Governance and Executive Compensation (GECN) Group. Last year’s research titled 2021 and Beyond: Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives explored the efforts of companies to incorporate environmental, social, governance (ESG measures), and other value drivers into their executive compensation plans, and the prior year’s research titled Seven Lessons from Engaged Investors focused on investors’ changing expectations for companies. This year’s report, titled 2022 and Beyond: Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives picks up where last year’s research left off and discusses the growing and evolving trends in the use of stakeholder incentives globally.

Study Methodology

This report deliberately refers to “stakeholders.” While we acknowledge that ESG is the most frequently used name for interests that extend beyond shareholders, we believe the term ESG alone does not capture the full breadth of non-financial performance and other interests that also contribute to long-term performance and sustainability. As a result, we use the term “stakeholder incentives” to refer to ESG as well as customer and community interests.

This year’s research expands the survey population to include companies in South Africa, in addition to the regions covered last year. All told, we collected and analyzed data on stakeholder incentives from the most recent public disclosures of all companies listed in the following indexes:

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2021 and Beyond: Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives

kimbeard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:09:33 +0000

For the past few years, the GECN Group has published research on global trends in corporate governance, including Seven Lessons from Engaged Investors, published in 2019. This year, our Global trends research entitled, “2021 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives” focuses on the efforts companies are making to incorporate the interests of stakeholders into their incentive plans. The research is timely given the global COVID-19 pandemic and the accelerating effect this has had on ESG matters. In early 2020, two of the world’s largest global asset managers, State Street Global Advisors and BlackRock, threatened to vote against directors and divest from companies with poor stakeholder disclosures. This continues to signal a real financial cost for companies who fail to have and disclose a compelling stakeholder strategy. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to examine the balance between financial performance and non-financial performance, as well as how to take into account stakeholder interests, including those of employees, customers, suppliers, and the communities in which they operate.

As a result we are pleased to present this report which analyzes the extent to which objectives pertaining to stakeholders are making their way into executive incentive plans.

Study Methodology

As a result we are pleased to present this report which analyzes the extent to which objectives pertaining to stakeholders are making their way into executive incentive plans.

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