Green Business: Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. And the Environmental Defense Fund
Monday, November 9th, 2009Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was set up in the mid-seventies and in those days the company’s specialization was in leveraged buyouts. But in a drive to make their portfolio companies and acquisitions greener and more profitable to boot, KKR have set in motion an exceptional project which has fundamentally transformed the way businesses and environmental activists work forever.
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co’s Henry Kravis and the non-profit environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged in 2008, with the goal of making green business practice a widely accepted principle. Issues like hazardous emissions and reckless water consumption feature high on their list of objectives. In order to implement these goals, they utilize eco-efficiency, this involves concepts like recycling programs, maximum use of renewable resources, and reducing the intensity of materials. Simple and effective, nevertheless the companies who were participating didn’t understand the scope of the program’s advantages until Ken Mehlman, the man responsible for the program, assessed the project subsequent to a year in operation. Much to everybody’s surprise, Ken saw that practicing eco-efficiency not only helped in proctecting the environment, but also increased the the net profit from all their businesses too. At the time of writing, KKR and Ken Mehlman have well-nigh every company in their portfolio actively involved in eco-efficiency. If you think about the fact that this portfolio of companies has a value of almost $100 billion USD, you can imagine what a feat this actually is. The initial program has grown beyond its initial purpose and now encompasses new initiatives. The Climate Corps Program set up by the EDF is a good example of this, it heightens awareness of eco-efficient techniques to MBA interns.
More recently, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co to formulate a series of analytic tools and other applicable systems which companies can utilize to evaluate and oversee resources. This type of information is critical as any type of business can assess their daily processes and discover precisely how they can solve any problems while simultaneously permitting them to see how much they have moved on.
Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund have encouraged all sorts of businesses to go green. Their innovations have simplified the procedure for companies in any sector and illustrated that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of negatively impacting our planet.
