Caesars Sustainability Report: Normalized Emissions Drop 5%

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Caesars Entertainment Corporation reduced its normalized greenhouse gas by 5 percent year-on-year in 2011, according to the company's latest sustainability report.

In 2010, the casino and entertainment company emitted 19.7 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per square foot of space compared to 18.7 mt in 2011, the report says. Since 2007 the company has reduced this metric by 21.7 percent.

Caesars' long-term goal is to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent on a per-square-foot basis from 2007 to 2025. This metric is based on "conditioned" square feet, which includes all guest and back of house areas.

The company's absolute carbon emissions dropped around 2.4 percent year-on-year, from 1,128,197 metric ton of CO2 equivalent in 2010 to 1,101,596 mtCO2e in 2011. Since its baseline year of 2007 Caesars has reduced this metric by around 7.2 percent. Caesars says it is on track to achieve a 10 percent reduction over 2007 levels by 2013.

Caesars first released its carbon inventory two years ago, covering the years from 2007 to 2009. In 2011, Caesars began using utility billing data to enable the reporting of sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, particulates and volatile organic compounds. This year's report discloses this data for the first time.

The company has also made investments that will allow it to expand its carbon footprinting to include international casino resorts.

Caesars' absolute energy use dropped just under 2 percent year-on-year from 1,516,329 MWh in 2010 to 1,486,854 MWh in 2011, according to the reportThe company's natural gas use dropped just over 4 percent year-on-year, from 3,964,247 million BTU in 2010 to 3,801,583 million in 2011. This metric has declined continually since 2007.

Caesars was one of a host of companies that turned off their lights for Earth Hour in 2011 - the company's third straight year of participation in the event. It shut off all non-essential exterior lighting and marquees at more than 40 resorts and casinos.

The company is on track to meet its a target of a 40 percent reduction in its fossil fuel use per air-conditioned square foot by 2025 over 2007 levels, according to a press release. Caesars is also collecting data on its efforts to use alternative sources for half of the fuel in company vehicles between 2007 and 2020, the report says.

Caesars supported – and participated in – Dartmouth College’s Big Green Bus tour across America. The company's casino resorts provided vegetable oil to fuel the bus, which transported 13 Dartmouth College students 12,000 miles across 24 states to build enthusiasm for environmental action.

Caesars has made progress in its water use, but at a slower rate than its carbon and energy improvements. Water use fell just over 0.3 percent year-on-year, from 4.13 billion gallons in 2010 to 4.12 billion gallons in 2011. In 2012, the World Series of Poker, which is held at Caesars Palace, raised nearly $6 million for One Drop, which helps provide safe access to water for those in need.

The report was complied using GRI G3.1 Guidelines. Caesars says it qualifies as a G3.1 Level "C" report.

Click through to read Environmental Leader's coverage of Caesars sustainability report from 2010.

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