Company announces five-year ambitions in the areas of emissions, workforce development and volunteerism

Las Vegas Sands released its latest ESG Report covering the company’s 2021 performance and outlining overarching ambitions and core strategies for its next five-year reporting cycle from 2021-2025.

Targeted for achievement by 2025, Sands’ primary ambitions in the People, Communities and Planet pillars of its corporate responsibility program include:

• People: $200 million investment in workforce development to advance Team Member career paths and local talent in the hospitality industry
• Communities: Contribution of 150,000 Team Member volunteer hours in support of local communities
• Planet: 17% reduction in emissions from a 2018 base, aligned with science-based target methodology

“Despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, our commitment to being an ESG leader has not wavered,” said Katarina Tesarova, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer. “In 2021, we refreshed our ESG strategy and laid the groundwork for our next cycle with plans to accelerate our environmental efforts around addressing climate change, especially in the areas of renewable energy and transportation. Our social targets in workforce development and volunteerism are designed to elevate and amplify our history of creating pathways to career success and giving back through service to our communities – two core areas of the Sands culture.”

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Highlighting Sands’ impact in 2021, the company was again recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for World and North America. Sands also was named one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies and to the CDP Climate A and Water A Lists, the only hospitality company recognized with an “A” designation on both lists.

Among Sands’ many accomplishments contributing to these designations and outlined in the 2021 ESG Report is the company’s dedicated focus on driving the success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the regions where it operates. In Macao, Sands spent $263 million directly with SMEs in 2021, and 91% of the company’s total Macao spend was with local businesses. In Singapore, total spend with local businesses was even higher at 93%. The report highlights Sands’ comprehensive initiatives in support of SMEs and local businesses across each of its People, Communities and Planet corporate responsibility pillars.

Sands also continued to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and human rights initiatives in 2021. The company made additional investments in diverse community organizations and expanded DEI Team Member initiatives, including creating a new diversity training framework, increasing diversity focus in hiring and extending benefits to corporate Team Members’ domestic partners, matching a similar practice at Marina Bay Sands, which provides benefits for married LGBTQ+ spouses. The company also provided new transparency and a detailed overview of its human rights commitment and practices in the ESG Report.

Enhanced governance of ESG topics was another major focus in 2021. Oversight of ESG matters was made a formal responsibility of the board of directors’ nominating and governance committee, and the company’s majority-owned subsidiary, Sands China Ltd., created a separate ESG board committee. In addition, a component of the incentive compensation for Sands’ most senior executives was for the first time contingent upon the achievement of certain ESG performance measurements in 2021.

To read the full 2021 Sands ESG Report, click here.

Source: Las Vegas Sands