Dive Brief:
- Wynn Resorts released its latest environmental, social and governance report, outlining its 2022 responsibility programs, the company announced Monday.
- The report details employee contributions and noted progress toward its sustainability goals, one of which is to be net-zero by 2050.
- Wynn Resorts’ first ESG report was released in 2019. Other hospitality players have begun releasing ESG reports in recent years as company stakeholders increasingly call for transparency around environmentally and socially responsible actions.
Dive Insight:
Wynn Resorts plans to hit a carbon dioxide emissions peak and achieve 50% renewable energy procurement by 2030. Wynn Las Vegas is on its way, with the ESG report showing that 49% of the resort’s operational business hours were provided by carbon-free energy in 2022. Meanwhile, Encore Boston Harbor, a Wynn property, diverted 90% of resort waste from landfills in 2022.
Employee volunteerism doubled in 2022, with Wynn employees in North America volunteering for more than 28,000 hours.
“While there are many achievements outlined in this year's ESG report, the thing I am most proud of is the substantial impact of our employees,” said CEO Craig Billings in a statement. “Our talented and dedicated team continues to press forward to make a positive impact and set even bigger goals for the future.”
Employees donated a record of more than $800,000 throughout the year to the Wynn Employee Foundation, a company record. Wynn matches donations dollar for dollar up to $75,000 per employee, which the company claims is the highest corporate match in the hospitality industry.
“The leadership team at Encore Boston Harbor set a great example for everyone: 70 percent of our directors and executives in Boston donated to the Wynn Employee Foundation,” said Billings in the report’s opening letter. “Employee donations, along with additional contributions by Wynn Resorts, allowed us to provide more than $4.2 million to nonprofits in North America that support our initiatives in education, cultural enrichment, and vibrant communities.”
The report also details the company’s social responsibility initiatives. In 2022, Wynn Resorts debuted its Diversity Week, an initiative across the company that highlighted diversity in Wynn’s workplace, marketplace and community.
The company also continued investing in its Historically Black Colleges and Universities Recruitment Initiative, which partners with hospitality and tourism programs at HCBUs. In 2022, the program welcomed its first cohort of HBCU graduates into Wynn Resorts’ HBCU Management Training Program.
As in previous years, the 2022 ESG report detailed Wynn Resorts’ policies regarding political activity and donations, responsible gaming initiatives, human trafficking prevention, human rights, animal welfare, workforce development and more. The company also reported its carbon dioxide emissions per property, as well as water and power consumption across North America facilities.
ESG reports are becoming increasingly prevalent among hospitality providers as investors and other stakeholders call for more environmentally and socially responsible actions from companies. Choice Hotels Vice President of ESG Megan Brumagim previously told Hotel Dive that sustainability “has gone mainstream.”
“Companies, including Choice, are now thinking about sustainability not just in terms of a great marketing opportunity or free PR but also as something that should be incorporated into their strategy and operations [because they] are hearing from more and more stakeholders that this is something they care about,” Brumagim said.
In its 2022 ESG report, Choice revamped its sustainability certification program and rolled out an automated utility tracking dashboard.
In May, Highgate released its own ESG report, said to be one of the first of its kind by a major hotel management company. In the report, Highgate noted that it reduced its total greenhouse gas emissions by 21.8% between 2019 and 2021.
