The Star shines in Dow Jones Sustainability Index

The Star Entertainment Group has been listed as sustainability leader for the casino and gaming industry in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) and Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

The DJSI rated The Star’s performance strongest in the areas of tax strategy, corporate governance, environmental policy and management systems, human capital development and stakeholder engagement. The group also achieved overall industry-best scores in the social and environmental categories (the latter shared with Las Vegas Sands).

“We’re delighted to again be recognised as the world’s most sustainable integrated resort company,” said The Star Entertainment Group Managing Director and CEO Matt Bekier.

“This honour reflects our commitment to leading the way in sustainable business practices across all aspects of operations at our properties in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

“To be named ‘global leader’ in the casinos and gaming sector for four years running only increases our desire to keep delivering positive social, environmental and economic outcomes for the communities in which we operate.”

The DJSI is a rigorous and highly regarded global sustainability index. RobecoSAM — which specialises in providing environmental, social and governance (ESG) data, ratings and benchmarking — evaluated around 2100 companies across 600 data points to determine inclusion and ranking on the index. Areas evaluated included corporate governance; risk and crisis management; supply chain management; climate strategy; human rights; talent attraction and retention; safety; environmental management and performance; codes of business conduct; local community development; and labour practices.

The Star continues to achieve milestones in support of its sustainability strategy, including:

• 50 projects across its energy and water efficiency program that have delivered more than $4 million in cost savings since FY2015;
• a single-use plastics reduction commitment that has removed 7.5 million plastic straws annually, in addition to preventing plastic cutlery and packaging from reaching landfill by implementing compostable and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood as a replacement;
• 13,600+ kg of food donations from operations and from an establishing program supporting OzHarvest and its ‘School Run’ schools program, which reaches 40 schools and 2000 students;
• 9000+ bars of soap made from soaps donated across all its hotels through the Soap Aid recycling program;
• commitment to an exclusive Aboriginal native bee honey production business on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) creating job and training opportunities for the island’s Quandamooka People;
• 15.5% carbon emission reduction per square metre (against base year FY2013) taking The Star towards its target of 30% reductions by FY2023.
   

The DJSI World is celebrating a two-decade milestone this year. Since its launch in 1999, the DJSI World has achieved iconic status as the global standard for measuring and advancing corporate ESG practices. It was the first global index to track the largest and leading sustainability-driven publicly listed companies.

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