How Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. Works in Line with the Environmental Defense Fund
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was set up in the 1970’s and orginally their main business was in leveraged buyouts. Recently they have assembled a groundbreaking green proposal that centers not only on profitability, but also on how environmentally aware each of the firms in their portfolio currently are.
When Henry Kravis from KKR and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) got together in 2008 green issues in the business world became major topic of dicussion. Issues like soil contamination and overblown water consumption are high on their list of goals. Eco-efficiency (the phrase was originally pitched by the WBCSD) is the formula used to achieve these targets, by utilizing ecologically aware policies like optimizing data centers for efficiency, improving fuel economy through vehicle fleet maintenance and reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals. Efficient though it was the KKR and EDF did not even understand the full project’s benefits until Ken Mehlman, the person in charge of the project, evaluated the project after a year in operation. Much to everyone’s surprise, Ken saw that this program not only cut back on the overall impact on the environment, but also increased the profits from all their companies besides. At the time of writing, KKR and Ken Mehlman have nearly every associated organization taking part in eco-efficiency principles. Nevertheless, with a current portfolio with a worth of $86 billion, you can be sure this was no easy achievement. The Green Portfolio project has evolved beyond its primary purpose and these days encompasses new enterprises. For example, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co joined the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps Program that teaches interns studying for an MBA how to introduce cost efficient, ecologically friendly principles.
What is more, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co to create a package of metrics and analytic tools which businesses can utilize to measure and manage different resources. Programs like these can measure a company’s progress and discover any problem areas.
The business community has been changed forever by the pioneering efforts of these people. Their innovative concepts have made decreasing their ecological impact easier for companies in any industry and demonstrated that making profits need not entail the hefty price of negatively impacting our planet.