Astounding Words

Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was founded in the mid 70’s and in the beginning their focus was in highly leveraged transactions. However, hoping to make the businesses they acquire have less ecological impact, they have set in motion an unusual proposal that has totally transformed the way business concerns and environmental activists carry on their day-to-day business. Environmentally sound business procedures became more generally acceptable a year ago when Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co’s Henry Kravis and the non-profit environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged. Issues like hazardous chemical use and flagrant water consumption are a priority in their corporate mission statement. Eco-efficiency (the phrase was first endorsed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) is the technique applied to achieve these goals, using ecologically aware policies such as using clean energy, reducing the intensity of materials and optimizing data centers for efficiency. Although the program was an enormous success, managment simply didn’t recognize how important the results were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the project and global public affairs, finished the first annual review.

Much to everybody’s surprise, Ken learned that this program not only enhanced environmental responsibility, but also increased the the profit from all their companies too. These days, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman have well-nigh all of their companies taking part in eco-efficiency. Seeing that the whole portfolio is valued at almost one hundred billion dollars, you can see what an accomplishment this really was. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co with the EDF along with Ken Mehlman are extending the original Green Portfolio project. The Climate Corps Program administrated by the EDF is just one of these, it promotes eco-efficient techniques to MBA interns. In addition, Ken Mehlman has worked closely with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co to formulate metrics and analytical tools that a wide variety of businesses can employ to measure resources. This type of info is invaluable as companies can assess all of their daily activities and discover precisely how they can improve while simultaneously allowing staff to determine their ecological impact. The business community has been completely revolutionized by the efforts of Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund. So, in conclusion, these systems have made green business practice not only viable, but commercially desirable, and their novel ideas are setting a new standard in today’s business community.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Business Performance, Social. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.