Sands ECO360 Executive Profile: Pranav Jampani, Director of Sustainability
As published on the Sands Confidential blog
Pranav Jampani has been surrounded by some form of sustainability throughout his academic life and career. It’s only fitting that as the director of sustainability at The Venetian, The Palazzo and Sands Expo, Jampani works to effectively integrate sustainability into the resort’s practices, processes, and culture.
Sands ECO360 is Las Vegas Sands’ award-winning global sustainability strategy that ensures the company is proactively and consistently reducing its impact on the environment and within the communities in which it operates. As director, Jampani manages the development, implementation and reporting of the properties’ sustainability strategy, goals, and policies by focusing on the program’s key operational areas: Green Buildings, Environmentally Responsible Operations, Green Meetings and Events, and Stakeholder Engagement.
“On a daily basis, we proactively protect the environment through numerous initiatives to save energy, water, reduce waste, and improve recycling, source sustainable products and services, increase awareness by engaging our stakeholders including Team Members, non-profits, green meeting clients and attendees.” Jampani said. “We constantly search for new ideas and implement innovative technologies to use our resources more efficiently.”
The Sands ECO360 team developed goals and action plans around the four pillars of the ECO360 program that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Science Based Targets. To meet these goals and optimize their performance, Pranav and his team have developed many unique programs and initiatives to excite Team Members, guests, and meeting clients about environmental sustainability. For example, green meetings clients have the option to develop a “Water Wise Menu” that features menu items that use less water or go the “Green Caffeine” route and bring their own reusable coffee mugs to use at coffee outlets on property. Creating a green meeting or event can be implemented throughout a program, from the menu to donating any leftover food or furniture.
“Sustainability is not a niche thing anymore, it has become mainstream,” Jampani said. “In the past decade especially, it has grown into a standard practice not just with hospitality or Integrated Resort companies but also across all sectors. Consumers around the world are saying loud and clear that a company’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility are among the factors that influence purchase decisions.”
It’s not just guests and meetings clients who get excited about sustainability. Sands ECO360 makes it a priority to inspire sustainable lifestyle practices to Team Members, their families, and beyond. Team Members take part in recycling drives, green ideas challenges, step up challenges, sustainable food and wellness demonstrations, clean plate challenges, sustainability tours, food drives, and more.
“We are always eager to combine our passion for protecting the environment and helping our community. We get all the support and resources from senior management and Team Members, and we never want to limit ourselves on how we can be more efficient with the environment,” he said.
Jampani realized early on that sustainability doesn’t need to be a harness. It’s proactive and inspires people to move forward. His interest and philosophy on the topic is simple: we will all continue to be consumers and producers, but it doesn’t mean we can’t look for ways to move our communities and countries forward in a more sustainable way.
“The best part of my job is that I get to work on very challenging, diverse and unique projects with incredibly talented Team Members on a regular basis. Since the scope of my work is so broad and responsibilities are massive,” Jampani said. “I get to work on projects which most people don’t and I understand the full gamut of our operations as I touch every single aspect of it and work with pretty much all internal property teams, more than 9,000 Team Members, over 25 external stakeholders, and hundreds of Fortune 500 meeting clients. I’m gratified by all the thought, passion and ingenuity that goes into running these properties as efficiently and sustainable as possible. The culture here always encourages innovation, creativity, and being open to new ideas.”
