How Caesars Entertainment Is Betting on Sustainability

This case study examines Caesars Entertainment’s sustainability initiative. In the past few years Caesars, the world’s most geographically diversified gaming company, has come a long way toward earning a reputation as an environmental leader in the hospitality industry. It has received more than 50 awards and certifications for sustainability leadership. In just five years, the company has reduced its carbon footprint by nearly 10% and reduced its energy use per square foot by 20%.
Gary Loveman, the company’s chairman and CEO, stepped up the company’s sustainability efforts beginning in 2007 as the economy was starting to weaken. Caesars’ revenues were collapsing, forcing the company to reduce staffing levels by more than 20 percent. Staff members were developing creative ways to cut costs, reduce energy consumption and waste, and increase recycling, and Loveman saw an opportunity to build on their initiative. The program, dubbed CodeGreen, has become institutionalized across more than 50 Caesars properties, in part by a scorecard that continues to be refined.
Although Caesars’ properties have substantially reduced their carbon footprint and increased efficiencies, the next stage of Caesars’ sustainability program is still being mapped out. This case study features details about Caesar’s sustainability initiative, as well as expert commentary by two business school professors: Michael W. Toffel of Harvard and Gregory Unruh of Thunderbird School of Global Management.