Wynn Resorts on Tuesday issued its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, which included the company’s collective pledges and defined goals to decrease emissions and confront the mounting risk of climate change.
According to a statement released by the company, the report outlines how Wynn Resorts’ ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic ran parallel to achieving a gamut of progressive ESG and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) goals, with what it said were “significant” strides made in community outreach and crisis relief efforts, responsible business practices, and protecting human rights.
In the report’s forward, Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said, “A truly great company, one founded on the belief that excellence is not just an aspiration but a necessity, and operating in today’s socially and environmentally fraught world, is called to a higher standard: to take responsibility, not just for our decisions, but for all the future impacts of those decisions. Impacts we ourselves may not live to see, but will have caused, nonetheless. Decision-making with careful consideration to the impacts 20 or 30 years from now isn't just essential, it is an existential imperative. That is what the future demands of us.”
Wynn Resorts said its sustainability program, known as Goldleaf, houses scientific solutions to the wide range of environment and climate challenges that are unique to each resort that the company operates.
Under the direction of Maddox and chief sustainability officer Erik Hansen, the company committed to several corporate sustainability goals: Net-Zero by 2050, to reduce or offset all carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by company operations no later than 2050; Carbon Dioxide Emissions Peak by 2030, to stop and reverse year-over-year growth of operational carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030; 50% Renewable Energy Procurement by 2030, to increase Wynn Resorts’ supply of renewable energy produced or procured to at least 50% of total consumption by 2030.
The company noted these commitments are aligned with the recommendations made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as referenced in the 2015 Paris Climate Accord.
In 2020, Wynn Resorts completed several projects in renewable energy, waste diversion and emissions reduction, many of which were years in the making, including: the installation of 23 Megawatts of solar power capacity in the United States, which offsets 100% of the energy consumed in the 560,000 square-feet of convention space in Las Vegas, and up to 75% of the peak power demands of the entire 10-million-square-foot Las Vegas resort; Wynn Las Vegas reduced its annual energy consumption by 20% in 2020 relative to 2015 through capital investments in critical energy-reducing technologies and operational efficiencies, most notably the 160-acre Wynn Solar Field and a concerted effort on preventive systems maintenance.
In addition, Encore Boston Harbor received 100% of its energy from renewable and green sources of power and is the first integrated resort in the Unites States with an onsite microgrid balancing solar energy production, combined heat and power co-generation, and battery storage.
Wynn Las Vegas reduced Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 80,000 metric tons from 2019 to 2020, achieved by offsetting energy procured from traditional fossil fuel-based generation with renewable and green energy products. This emissions offset is equivalent to powering 9,705 homes for one year or driving a passenger vehicle for 202 million miles
Encore Boston Harbor diverted 100% of waste from the landfill in 2020 during its first full year of operation, utilizing its comprehensive waste management infrastructure of recycling, composting and waste-to-energy conversion to ensure no waste goes to a landfill, ever.
Wynn Resorts owns and operates Wynn Las Vegas, Encore Boston Harbor, Wynn Macau, and Wynn Palace, Cotai.
