Las Vegas Sands has voiced optimism at achieving 2025 environmental, social and governance ambitions, as the casino operator’s strategic four-year action plans ticked past the midway point.
This came as the company, which recently pledged to commit $3.8bn to the Macau market and maintains hope of securing a New York licence, released its latest ESG report.
Before directing attention to progress and ambitions under the people, communities and planet pillars, Robert Goldstein, Chair of the Board and CEO Las Vegas Sands, noted wider “important business accomplishments” as a backdrop to its 2022 ESG performance.
This saw divestment of Las Vegas assets, continued exploration of new market entries, commitments to the aforementioned Asian gaming hub, a Singapore reopening, reinvestments and continued navigation of various pandemic impacts all cited.
“Despite these ongoing challenges, we remain committed to the people, communities and planet pillars of our corporate responsibility program and delivering results against our overarching goals of minimising environmental impact, promoting the well-being of our people and keeping our communities strong,” he wrote.
“Our work under these three pillars is integral to our purpose of creating a positive impact by making our regions ideal places to live, work and visit.”
“As we approach the middle of our five-year reporting cycle, the work toward our 2025 ambitions is progressing well”
The former of those comprises a target in investing $200m in workforce development initiatives by 2025, with LVS’ outlay through 2021 and 2022 coming in at $113m and $56m, respectively.
“Funding has supported core initiatives such as the Sands Academy Team Member training and development program and the Sands China F.I.T. (financial support, invitational matching, and training and development) program for small and medium enterprises, as well as other regional workforce development initiatives,” the company said.
On the communities front, Sands has exceeded a 2025 goal of contributing 150,000 team member volunteer hours to support local communities, with 192,330 clocked to date
With ambitions having been surpassed two years early, the company intends to set a new target later this year, which will be presented in the 2023 ESG Report.
“As we approach the middle of our five-year reporting cycle, the work toward our 2025 ambitions is progressing well,” Goldstein said.
Environmental impacts have seen greenhouse gas emissions remain “significantly below” the 2018 baseline for Sands’ 2025 emissions reduction goal of 17.5 per cent, with a 50 per cent reduction achieved through the past year.
“…we are focused on delivering the performance necessary to achieve our 2025 ambitions in emissions reduction, workforce development and community volunteerism”
“While the pandemic continued to impact property visitation, the company has pursued a number of emissions reduction projects to ensure it remains on track to meet the target in 2025 as business is expected to rebound, increasing energy consumption,” LVS acknowledged.
Initiatives undertaken have seen the installation of controls to reduce energy use while guests are away, with the company also purchasing 151,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates and generating 235 megawatt hours from solar plants.
“As we look ahead to the remainder of 2023, we are focused on delivering the performance necessary to achieve our 2025 ambitions in emissions reduction, workforce development and community volunteerism,” Goldstein concluded.
“We hope to see continued strengthening in Singapore, where we are investing significantly to help the region capitalise on projected tourism growth. We also look forward to the return of a more normal business environment in Macao, where we continue to make significant commitments to support the region’s impressive development as a leading global tourism destination.
“Finally, the 2023 opening of our new headquarters in Las Vegas, designed with sustainability at its core, will be a working embodiment of our ESG commitment. We are incorporating environmentally conscious features, people-centred initiatives and a culture of community engagement into this investment in our future.”