Apple Drops ESG Links From Top Executives’ Pay Packages—Bloomberg

“Shareholders prod companies less frequently over environmental concerns than they did a couple of years ago… If there’s just not that much focus on it, then that’s just what drops off.”

In Bloomberg’s reporting on Apple removing ESG modifiers from executive pay, Farient’s Sustainability Practice Leader Brian Bueno highlights a key shift in compensation design: declining external pressure. As investor and political interest in climate issues wane, boards are reassessing how prominently environmental metrics should factor into incentive plans. Bueno notes that when scrutiny fades, these measures can quickly lose traction—particularly if they were added during a period of heightened ESG momentum rather than embedded in long-term strategy.

The story places Apple’s decision within a wider pattern across large-cap companies, many of which are dialing back explicit ESG pay links after several years of experimentation. Farient’s perspective underscores a core governance insight: compensation frameworks often mirror stakeholder expectations.

When shareholders, regulators, or proxy advisors elevate an issue, it rises within pay design; when attention shifts, so do incentives. Bloomberg’s coverage reinforces Farient’s broader view that boards must strike a careful balance—ensuring compensation structures remain responsive to evolving external pressures while staying grounded in drivers of long-term value.

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About Brian Bueno

Sustainability Practice Leader, Farient Advisors/GECN Group, New York

New York
(646) 626-6929
brian.bueno@farient.com

Brian Bueno is the Sustainability Practice Leader at Farient Advisors. In this role, Brian guides the firm’s strategy, research, and analysis on sustainability and corporate governance matters. Brian focuses on the still-evolving sustainability landscape and its intersection with executive compensation and incentives in order to assist clients in understanding stakeholder considerations and developing and implementing appropriate programs that help create stakeholder value.

Prior to re-joining Farient in 2022, Brian was Vice President and product manager at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a leading proxy advisory firm, where he led the development of solutions that assist institutional investors in evaluating executive compensation and related areas at their portfolio companies across global markets. Additionally, at ISS’s Corporate Solutions arm, Brian led the creation and management of product platforms that allow companies to benchmark themselves across executive compensation and ESG topics.

Prior to joining ISS in 2015, Brian worked at Farient, where he managed the development and delivery of Farient’s Performance Alignment Reports and associated research, including analyses on executive pay definitions and financial performance metrics and their link to shareholder value. At Farient, Brian also worked with clients across various industries, including energy, industrials, banking, and insurance. And before Farient, Brian held a market research role involved in identifying opportunities and risks in particular industries and communicating findings to clients and media.

Brian holds a BS from the University of Southern California’s (USC) Marshall School of Business with a triple concentration in finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

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