How Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. Works with the Environmental Defense Fund
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was set up in 1976 and in those days their main business was in leveraged buyouts. Moving further, aiming to make their acquisitions have less of a negative environmental impact, KKR have set up an exceptional proposal which has dramatically transformed the way business concerns and environmental groups work in a big way. Environmentally sound business practice became major topic a year ago when KKR’s Henry Kravis and the New York based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) got together. Their corporate mission is to encourage their associated firms in avoiding environmental threats e.g. toxic emissions and preposterous consumption of water resources.
Eco-efficiency (a phrase originally submitted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) is the procedure used to achieve these objectives, through employing environmentally friendly techniques such as reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals, optimizing data centers for efficiency and fuel economy. Regardless of the fact that the program was an enormous success, no-one realized how far reaching the effects were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the Green Portfolio Project and global public affairs, looked at the first year’s figures.
Outdoing everyone’s expectations, Ken learned that eco-efficiency not only increased environmental awareness, but was also increasing the profitability of all their businesses as well. Just about all of the companies associated with KKR and Ken Mehlman now use eco-efficiency. Still, when you consider that the group has a current portfolio valued at 86,000,000,000 dollars, you can be sure that this wasn’t a simple feat.
The Green Portfolio project has evolved beyond its initial remit and nowadays encompasses new ventures. For instance, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co linked up with the EDF’s Climate Corps Program that instructs students studying for a Master’s in Business Administration how to develop and initiate cost-effective, green principles.
Lately, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with KKR to create metrics that a variety of companies can use to measure and oversee different resources. This type of data is critical as any type of business can evaluate all of their day to day processes and find out how they can improve while simultaneously letting them to determine their impact on the environment.
The business world has been changed by the work of Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Their innovations have made reducing their environmental impact less complicated for businesses in any sector and shown that making profits need not entail the hefty price of damaging the environment.
