Press Releases

LAS VEGAS – September 21, 2009 – Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. announced today that it has joined Dell, SC Johnson, Starbucks and Wrigley as a founding member of “Team Earth,” along with three leading environmental organizations:  Conservation International, Rocky Mountain Institute and the Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project. 

Coordinated by Conservation International, Team Earth unites businesses, non-profit organizations, scientists, educators, and engaged citizens in an international effort to focus attention on pressing environmental sustainability issues, inspire collective action and drive innovation towards smarter, greener, more responsible choices.

“A key focus of Team Earth is uniting simple, straightforward individual actions to address our planet’s most critical environmental issues,” said Gary Loveman, Chairman, CEO and President of Harrah’s Entertainment, at a press conference today in midtown Manhattan where he stood with other founding members.  “Harrah’s Entertainment is proud to join Team Earth not as a single corporate sponsor, but as 80,000 employees working together to make a difference.  By uniting our efforts, we have significantly reduced our company’s carbon footprint, dramatically improved our energy efficiency, decreased our waste stream and increased our recycling. Joining together, we have made Harrah’s a sustainability leader and now we are ready to do more by joining an even bigger team:  Team Earth.”

Team Earth’s first focus, launched at the press conference by prominent actor and environmentalist Harrison Ford, is to garner support for forest protection at the Copenhagen climate negotiations this December.  As an ongoing campaign, Team Earth will build momentum in five critical topic areas: climate change, water, health, waste and food.  The initiative will urge individual actions and present practical, effective solutions to ensure a more sustainable world.

The Harrah’s Entertainment Code of Commitment, a statement of principles that guides the company’s socially responsible practices, includes both recognition of the importance of being responsible stewards of the environment and a specific commitment to environmental sustainability and energy conservation.  The company has established employee-driven, branded CodeGreen teams at every casino resort and in all corporate activities to create, promote, measure, and sustain effective environmental practices. The resulting initiatives have transformed Harrah’s environmental profile.

There have been more than 100 major conservation projects across Harrah’s properties, from installing energy efficient indoor and outdoor lighting to reducing water consumption by hundreds of millions of gallons every year.  In the past six years, the company has spent $60 million on energy conservation projects alone, averting more than 230 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually (equivalent to planting 88,000 acres of forest or eliminating 12 million passenger car miles).

Harrah’s is the only major casino entertainment company to join EPA’s Climate Leaders and Waste Wise programs, and the only company in the industry to win an EPA Environmental Quality Award.  The company’s grassroots employee-driven approach and environmental projects and retrofits of existing facilities have won numerous awards and accolades, and Conservation International specifically cited the company’s extensive employee engagement when inviting Harrah’s to be a founding member of Team Earth.

Harrah’s is encouraging employees, guests and the public to sign up to participate in Team Earth, support Team Earth campaigns calling for stronger environmental action, and take simple, straightforward steps to improve environmental sustainability. Although Team Earth’s website (www.TeamEarth.com) will not officially launch until later this year, visitors can sign up now to participate and receive more information on future Team Earth actions and activities.

Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is the world's largest provider of branded casino entertainment. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 70 years ago, Harrah's has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions, and now operates casinos on four continents. The company's properties operate primarily under the Harrah's®, Caesars® and Horseshoe® brand names; Harrah's also owns the World Series of Poker® and a majority interest in the London Clubs International family of casinos. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Harrah’s is committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment. For more information, please visit www.harrahs.com.

Contact: Gary Thompson – Media
Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.
(702) 407-6529