Las Vegas Sands has hit two of its three environmental sustainability goals and is on course for a third, according to its first ever Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report.
The operator drastically reduced its greenhouse gas emissions since 2015, with its 12.4% emission reduction well above the 6% goal it set in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for 2020.
Similarly, Las Vegas Sands’ water usage reduction, at 3.2%, was also ahead of the 2020 target of 3%. However, its waste reduction of 4.1% had not yet reached the 2020 goal of 5%.
In terms of responsible gambling, gaming facilities representing 18.4% of revenue had implemented the Responsible Gambling Index, a series of responsible gambling standards created by the Responsible Gambling Council.
The report also revealed that Las Vegas Sands’ 46,009 employees received an average of 38.9 hours of training and development time during 2019.
More than 95.6% of employees underwent code of conduct training, including 24,528 – or 98.2% of “targeted” employees for which the training would be relevant – undergoing anti-money laundering training and 16,862 employees undergoing responsible gambling training.
A further 327 employees were appointed ‘responsible gambling ambassadors’ after undergoing further responsible gambling training.
Of these employees, 50% were men and 50% women. However, eight of the nine directors on the operator’s board were men.
The business donated $6.8m to local charities in 2019, as well as donating 200,988 lbs of food.
Las Vegas Sands chairman and chief executive Sheldon Adelson said he was proud of the company’s work in the areas of environmental and social progress and governance.
“I am proud of our ESG performance in 2019 and profoundly grateful to our passionate team members around the globe for the positive impact they have made to both their communities and the protection of our planet,” Adelson said, Their unwavering commitment and contributions have been instrumental to everything we have accomplished.
“We remain deeply committed to providing leadership in ESG and look forward to sharing our progress with you in the years ahead.”
In the third quarter of 2020, Sands’ revenue was down 82.0% year-on-year to $586m, as the business started to recover from a Q2 in which revenue totalled just $98m, but intake remained well below 2019 levels. In 2019, the business made $13.7bn in revenue.