Month: August 2023

Published by Las Vegas Sands on April 4, 2023

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) has released its latest environmental, social and governance (ESG) report outlining the company’s 2022 progress on the corporate responsibility ambitions and priorities established for its 2021-2025 reporting period.

Targeted for achievement by 2025, Sands’ performance on its ambitions in the People, Communities and Planet pillars of its corporate responsibility program through 2022 included:

People – Aiming toward its 2025 target to invest $200 million in workforce development initiatives to advance Team Members and local talent in the hospitality industry, Sands invested $56 million in 2022 and $113 million since 2021. Funding has supported core initiatives such as the Sands Academy Team Member training and development program and the Sands China F.I.T. (financial support, invitational matching, and training and development) program for small and medium enterprises, as well as other regional workforce development initiatives.

Communities – In 2022, Sands exceeded its 2025 goal of contributing 150,000 Team Member volunteer hours to support local communities with 192,330 volunteer hours provided to date. Extensive Team Member volunteer support for pandemic-related initiatives in Macao, such as community testing and vaccinations, propelled accomplishment of this ambition in just two years. Sands plans to set a new 2025 target this year, which will be presented in the 2023 ESG Report.

Planet – Greenhouse gas emissions remained significantly below the 2018 baseline for Sands’ 2025 emissions reduction goal of 17.5%, achieving a 50% reduction in 2022. While the pandemic continued to impact property visitation, the company has pursued a number of emissions reduction projects to ensure it remains on track to meet the target in 2025 as business is expected to rebound, increasing energy consumption. In 2022, Sands properties installed controls to reduce energy use while guests are away in 3,300 hotel rooms and are replacing hard-to-convert incandescent and fluorescent lighting to LED solutions. The company purchased 151,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates and generated 235 megawatt hours from solar plants. Sands properties also worked on transitioning their fleets to electric vehicles and installed additional electric charging stations for Team Members.

“We set targets that push the company to achieve tangible results, and the work we have outlined toward these ambitions has put us on a solid track to reach our goals,” Katarina Tesarova, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer, said. “Beyond these three primary ambitions, we have a full range of core priorities under our People, Communities and Planet pillars that have also produced significant impact and are summarized in the report.”

Underscoring Sands’ performance in 2022, the company was again recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for World and North America, and Sands China was named to the DJSI World Index for the first time, along with a repeat appearance on the DJSI Asia Pacific Index. In addition, Sands was also recognized by Newsweek as one of America’s Most Responsible Companies and listed as one of the Drucker Institute’s 250 best-managed publicly traded companies, the only company in the gaming industry to be included in this top-tier group.

To read the full 2022 Sands ESG Report, click here.

About Sands (NYSE: LVS)

Sands is the world’s preeminent developer and operator of world-class integrated resorts. Our iconic properties drive valuable leisure and business tourism and deliver significant economic benefits, sustained job creation, financial opportunities for local businesses and community investment to help make our host regions ideal places to live, work and visit.

Sands’ portfolio of properties includes Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and The Venetian Macao, The Plaza and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, The Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao and Sands Macao in Macao SAR, China, through majority ownership in Sands China Ltd.

Sands is dedicated to being a leader in corporate responsibility, anchored by the core tenets of serving people, planet and communities. Our ESG leadership has led to inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for World and North America. To learn more, visit www.sands.com.

Contacts:

Kristin Koca

Sands

702.923.9142

Kristin.Koca@sands.com

WILMINGTON, Del., August 8, 2023 /3BL/ – The Chemours Company (“Chemours”) (NYSE: CC), a global chemistry company with leading market positions in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials, is proud to be Certified™ as a Great Place to Work® in the United States and 14 additional regions where the company operates for the 2023-2024 year.

“Building the greatest place to work for all employees is vital to achieving our vision of creating a better world through the power of our chemistry,” said Susan Kelliher, Chief People Officer at Chemours. “In this year’s survey, safety, community, opportunity, flexibility, and support were just some of the words employees used to describe what makes Chemours a great workplace. This kind of feedback is proof that empowering every employee to be their best self at work and in life makes a meaningful difference. I am incredibly proud that 92% of our global workforce operates in areas with Great Place to Work Certification™, and I want to thank our employees for their feedback. Your voice is essential to ensuring Chemours becomes even more successful and is a place where you are proud to work.”

The Great Place to Work Certification™ is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Chemours. This is the fourth time Chemours has achieved this milestone in the U.S., scoring above the benchmark for companies as a great place to work. The company’s U.S. scores are summarized on Chemours’ Great Places to Work™ profile, with key highlights including:

78% reported that when they look at what the company accomplishes, they feel a sense of pride83% of employees said that when you join the company, you are made to feel welcome86% shared that they are able to take time off from work when they think it’s necessary78% said that they want to work for the company for a long time

In addition to the U.S., which represents approximately 4,400 of Chemours 6,600 employees, Chemours has received Great Place to Work Certification™ in Belgium, Brazil, Greater China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand. Chemours is continually looking for talented people to join our team and help us contribute to enabling modern living and more sustainable innovations through Chemours’ chemistry. Visit the careers page to find your next opportunity, https://www.chemours.com/en/careers.

About The Chemours Company

The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) is a global leader in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. We deliver customized solutions with a wide range of industrial and specialty chemicals products for markets, including coatings, plastics, refrigeration and air conditioning, transportation, semiconductor and consumer electronics, general industrial, and oil and gas. Our flagship products are sold under prominent brands such as Ti-Pure™, Opteon™, Freon™, Teflon™, Viton™, Nafion™, and Krytox™. The company has approximately 6,600 employees and 29 manufacturing sites serving approximately 2,900 customers in approximately 120 countries. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC.

For more information, we invite you to visit chemours.com or follow us on Twitter @Chemours or LinkedIn.

About Great Place to Work Certification™

Great Place to Work® Certification™ is the most definitive “employer-of-choice” recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience – specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work-Certified.

About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™.

Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

INVESTORS
Brandon Ontjes
VP, Financial Planning & Analysis and Investor Relations
investor@chemours.com

Kurt Bonner,
Manager, Investor Relations
investor@chemours.com

NEWS MEDIA
Cassie Olszewski
Manager, Media Relations & Financial Communications
media@chemours.com

Source: The Chemours Company

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Summary

Companies and their executives give importance to sustainability for several reasons. Sustainability initiatives help increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce OpEx. Sustainability initiatives also provide a competitive advantage, add brand value, increase sales and create new opportunities. Companywide business units started with physical server consolidation using virtualization technologies from VMware to reduce their carbon emissions significantly. But to achieve zero carbon emissions, customers need insights into the carbon footprint of their virtual IT infrastructure objects.

As of today, the out of the box VMware Aria Operations sustainability dashboards do not have the following visual representation:

Carbon emissions of virtual infrastructure objects with drill-down capability from vCenter all the way down to an individual virtual machine.

This blog post details a new carbon emissions explorer dashboard for VMware Aria Operations that allows customers to:

Explore carbon emissions at various virtual infrastructure object levels in one page with drill-down capability from vCenter all the way down to an individual virtual machine.Quickly identify and take actions on outliers to reduce carbon footprint.Gain insights into opportunities for right-sizing over-provisioned clusters and over-sized VMs based on their carbon emissions.

Armed with this information, customers can take actions to reduce their IT infrastructure’s carbon footprint.

Carbon Emissions Explorer Dashboard

The carbon emissions explorer dashboard described in this blog uses out of the box metrics, Super Metrics and new widgets/views. This dashboard provides the following insights about the customer’s IT infrastructure:

Trend of their overall carbon emission and their journey in reducing carbon footprint.Near real-time carbon emissions by their IT datacenters.Aggregated weekly carbon emissions by vCenter, datacenter, cluster, host and individual VMs.Top 10 clusters by highest and lowest power consumption.Identification of oversized clusters from which physical hosts can be removed to reduce carbon footprint.Identification of oversized VMs which can be resized to reduce carbon footprint.

Conclusion

The new carbon emissions explorer dashboard in VMware Aria Operations is a significant step towards achieving zero carbon emissions in IT infrastructure. By providing customers with detailed insights into their carbon footprint at various levels, from vCenter down to individual virtual machines, the dashboard empowers companies to make informed decisions and take targeted actions to reduce their environmental impact. The dashboard offers a range of valuable features, including real-time trend analysis of carbon emissions, visibility into datacenters’ carbon footprint, identification of top-performing and underperforming clusters based on power consumption, and the ability to quickly identify and right-size oversized virtual machines and clusters. These features are made possible through the integration of out-of-the-box metrics, custom Super Metrics, and customizable widgets/views.

With VMware Aria Operations and its powerful dashboarding capabilities, customers can track their progress in reducing their carbon footprint and continuously refine their sustainability efforts. By enabling transparency, actionable insights, and the ability to make data-driven decisions, this dashboard supports companies in their journey towards a greener future.

Free Trial!

Sign up for a free trial of VMware Aria Operations and deploy this dashboard in your environment to gain helpful insights and possible cost savings through power reduction while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.

Additional Resources

This dashboard can be downloaded from the developer exchange. All included assets are bundled in and can be installed in the customer environment. The developer exchange page also provides detailed installation instructions.There is also a short video that goes over the carbon emissions explorer dashboard – the video can be accessed at the following link

To find out more about the Carbon Emissions Explorer Dashboard check out the walkthrough here.

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Daniel C. Roarty, CFA| Chief Investment Officer—Sustainable Thematic Equities

Sarah Tunnell, CFA| Research Analyst—Sustainable Thematic Equities

William Johnston| Portfolio Manager—Sustainable International Thematic Equities; Senior Research Analyst—Sustainable Thematic Equities

Financial companies that help address some of the world’s most pressing socioeconomic challenges deserve attention from sustainability-focused investors.

When investors think about sustainability, environmental objectives and climate change are usually front and center. But social goals are also important, and financial companies play a vital yet underappreciated role in promoting sustainable development.

Financial firms are not often recognized as key players in addressing issues related to sustainability. Yet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight financial systems as targets for achieving important socioeconomic objectives. Oversight of financial markets and institutions, as well as access to financial services, are explicit sub-targets of several SDGs (Display). That’s because properly functioning financial markets are integral to empowering all members of society to increase their participation in the economy and improve their personal economic circumstances.

For investors with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus, these SDGs can serve as a roadmap to identifying financial companies whose products and services support sustainable development. Then, by researching their businesses and corporate behavior, we can identify SDG–aligned companies with competitive advantages that underpin attractive return potential. We believe equity investors can access attractive companies that support the SDGs in the following parts of the financial sector.

Financial Exchanges: Leveling the Playing Field

Beneath the surface of every economy and society, financial markets ensure that capital flows freely to and from businesses and people. Academic research has long established the importance of well-developed stock markets in fostering economic growth via improved resource allocation, competition and innovation. Exchanges also help manage risks by reducing volatility of asset price movements that could undermine monetary stability or employment.

When markets are destabilized, everyone pays the price. Banks scale back lending, first to individuals with lower credit health and to small and medium-sized enterprises. Asset prices collapse and payments are delayed. Stock market instability shatters confidence in the financial and economic system, with devastating consequences for people’s savings and pensions. Those with less of a financial cushion to fall back on often suffer most in a financial crisis.

Transparency and liquidity are the foundation of stable markets, creating a level playing field for all market participants, including people who are traditionally underserved or excluded from the financial system. To promote transparency and liquidity, exchanges collect a vast array of data from companies and market participants. In some cases, this information is provided to regulators to help them oversee markets. As an enforcer of rules and regulations, exchanges aim to ensure that market participants behave fairly and ethically, protecting all investors.

Critics might argue that exchanges only serve wealthy investors. We disagree. From individuals seeking a loan to buy a house or car, to a business seeking to access capital for growth, a functioning financial market and economic stability benefit everyone.

Financial Data Providers: Information Supports Inclusion

If transparency and liquidity are the heart of a healthy, functioning financial market for all of society, data are its lifeblood. Better financial data is an essential ingredient to promote financial inclusion.

About 1.4 billion people worldwide still lack access to basic financial services and almost 850 million don’t have official proof of identity according to Experian, the Ireland-based consumer credit reporting company. In Brazil, 63 million people have unmanageable debts that affect their credit ratings. And About 28 million people in the US and 4–5 million in the UK are “credit invisible” because their financial profiles are too limited for lenders to assess them, according to Experian. Without access to affordable finance, people can’t buy homes, secure healthcare, pursue an education or start a business.

Credit bureaus provide information on a borrower’s creditworthiness that enables banks to lend and set appropriate interest rates. Lower-income customers and small businesses often struggle to gain a credit profile because they lack a credit history and are invisible to the system. Yet today, credit bureaus have new ways to help people strengthen their credit profiles using utility bill payments and mobile phone data. Credit bureaus have started to allow individuals to opt in to sharing information about the payments they’re making on time to help build or boost their credit score. This enables individuals to connect to the financial system, access cheaper sources of financing and tap additional services.

Payment Technology: Expanding Access to Financial Services

Using data to improve credit profiles is a step in the right direction toward expanding financial inclusion, but too many people are still left out of the traditional financial system entirely.

Worldwide bank account ownership has improved over the last decade from 51% of adults over the age of 15 in 2011 to 76% in 2021, according to the World Bank. But in lower-income regions and countries, many people still lack access to the system (Display).

Many governments have strategic plans to address the problem. However, like most of the world’s sustainability challenges, financial inclusion can’t be achieved by the public sector alone.

Payment technology companies are critical for those who lack access to traditional bank accounts. In 2021, 57% of people in developing economies used digital payments (Display), which are typically a gateway into other financial services, according to the World Bank. Mobile money is already commonplace in developed markets. These accounts help encourage saving and enable financial inclusion, particularly for lower-income people and women.

Insurance to Microfinance: Supporting the Most Vulnerable

Financial security is a multifaceted objective that must be addressed by a range of financial services firms, each contributing a solution to a distinct part of the problem. Insurance companies help manage threats to health, income and property that can devastate personal finances instantly. Life and health insurers that provide affordable protection and target at-risk segments of the population help families prepare for unexpected financial emergencies. Social finance services support the achievement of positive social outcomes in areas including basic infrastructure, access to essential services, affordable housing, employment, food security and microfinance.

With these examples in mind, we think equity investors focused on sustainability should take a fresh look at the financial sector. Guided by the SDGs, financial firms can be found that address some of the most pressing socioeconomic challenges of our age, which ultimately help reduce poverty, promote gender equality, support upward mobility and improve economic participation.

Ultimately, improved financial empowerment creates a virtuous circle that enhances economic growth and delivers economic benefits to a broader cross-section of society. Quality financial companies with clear competitive advantages and solid business models can allow investors to participate in efforts to empower individuals and small business as they strive to build a better financial future.

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams. Views are subject to revision over time.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here

Alaska is a vast state with extremes in weather and terrain. For people living in its 240 remote villages and communities, obtaining lifesaving medicines can be a challenge. And extreme challenges call for innovative solutions.

To help, we teamed up with the University of Alaska, a drone provider, local governments and others to demonstrate the use of drones to increase access to medicines in a proof-of-concept project. The drone was outfitted with thermal protection system packaging for the safe delivery of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals.

Drone technology expands access to medicines where it’s needed most

For our colleague and drone project adviser Leslie Brunette, this is the culmination of work that began more than a decade ago in her hometown of Fargo, North Dakota.

“I was introduced to a young man from a tribal community, and his grandmother had invited me to go and visit him,” said Brunette, who also serves as the global lead for Merck’s Native American and Global Indigenous People employee business resource group. She explained that the young man suffered from a chronic illness, and the remote location of his community meant a trek of two to three hours to be able to access health care. A few years later, he became sick and had to be moved off of the reservation to receive care.

“When he passed away, because of how much we learned about his family and his culture, I knew that more needed to be said and needed to be done. So I made that commitment to continue to try and be a voice that raised and elevated the awareness of indigenous communities across the United States and the world.”

From dog sleds to drone delivery

It’s not the first time we’ve found an innovative way to deliver health care to families in Alaska. The annual Iditarod race commemorates a 1925 sled dog team relay that brought an antitoxin produced by Merck legacy company H.K. Mulford to Nome through blizzard conditions to help fight a deadly epidemic.

We’re proud of our company’s long history of expanding access to medicines and vaccines and working with our partners to create innovative solutions to help people in need.

Learn more about Merck’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) approach by visiting merck.com/company-overview/esg.

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By Stacey Faucett

When we share that we work on accessibility and disability inclusion at Cisco, people might think, “That’s nice, but it really doesn’t affect me”—but that’s where they are wrong.

Unlike other identities—such as race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, and veteran status—anyone can suddenly find themselves disabled. In fact, if we’re fortunate to live long enough, each of us will eventually develop some kind of disability, whether it be short-term (something as common as breaking a bone) or something more permanent.

This is why the accessibility and disability inclusion work we do as part of Cisco’s Social Justice Actions is so critical. Because any of us can be—and nearly all of us will be—disabled at some point in our lifetime.

As we commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we reflect on the ways in which we have improved accessibility for our employees, partners, suppliers, and customers, and acknowledge the path we have yet to travel.

Accessibility is the principle that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and use the same things—whether that’s a physical location, technology, systems, or content. Cisco’s Social Impact Office looks at accessibility and disability inclusion through each of these lenses, recognizing the many ways in which Cisco engages with humans. This spans the recruiting and employment experience, our products and services, and how we interact with customers, partners and suppliers.

“Unlike other identities—such as race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, and veteran status—anyone can suddenly find themselves disabled.”

In addition to being subject matter experts in accessibility and disability inclusion and consultants to Cisco teams, we work on the Social Justice Action 12 accessibility workstream which relates to human rights in technology solutions. Specifically, we are responsible for assessing the state of accessibility at Cisco, proposing a strategy for improving accessibility throughout the enterprise, and moving that work forward.

To see where Cisco’s accessibility and disability inclusion gaps are, we conducted interviews with more than 100 people across every area of our business, including several focus groups with people who identified as disabled or neurodivergent.

This research confirmed that there is still a tremendous opportunity to make Cisco and all our products truly accessible and inclusive–an effort that requires participation at all levels of the company as well as a mindset shift in how we conduct business.

The business imperative is clear: increasingly, our customers are asking us about accessibility. We have also seen some instances where customers—particularly government buyers, educational institutions, and businesses in regulated industries—have formalized requirements for accessibility. Technology that does not meet these standards won’t be considered.

“Accessibility is the principle that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and use the same things—whether that’s a physical location, technology, systems, or content.” 

As leaders of this work, one thing we have been pleased to see is Cisco’s public commitment to focusing on the disability and neurodivergent communities and putting accessibility on the executive agenda through participating in the Valuable 500, a global group of 500 companies working to end disability exclusion. As a part of our Valuable 500 commitment, Cisco has pledged to take action in four areas that support our belief that equal access to our products and workplace is a fundamental human right:

We will design with human rights in mindWe will increase economic opportunities for people with disabilitiesWe will invest in training to support the recruiting, hiring, retention, and promotion of employees with disabilitiesWe will establish a permanent, dedicated accessibility infrastructure that is both resourced and accountable

Cisco’s public commitment to doing this work and holding ourselves accountable for our progress is important to disabled people, but, really, it’s important to all of us. Our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all. This means the technology and services we provide to our customers, partners, suppliers, and employees should be accessible to all. And while we are making progress, we still have work to do.

Learn more about Accessibility at Cisco, and read the 2022 Purpose Report to find out how we’re powering an inclusive future for all through our Social Justice Actions.

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