Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was founded in the 1970’s and in the beginning their specialty was in highly leveraged transactions. But just last year they have assembled a unique green enterprise which concentrates not only on profitability, but also on how environmentally aware each of their companies are. When Henry Kravis from KKR and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined forces a year ago environmental matters in the business community became a hot topic. This coalition wants to tackle serious environmental matters, which include hazardous chemical use, deforestation, unreasonable water consumption, and air pollution. Eco-efficiency (a phrase originally promoted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) mandates their mission’s framework, applying green policies such as reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals, fuel economy and using clean energy. Irrespective of the fact that the project was an enormous success, managment simply did not understand how far-reaching the effects truly were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the Green Portfolio Project and global public affairs, carried out the first annual review. Much to everybody’s surprise, Ken discovered that this program not only cut down on ecological impact, but also increased the profits from all their companies as well. Currently, KKR and Ken Mehlman have succeeded in getting virtually every last company in their portfolio actively taking part in eco-efficiency techniques. If you look at the fact that this group of companies is worth 86,000,000,000 USD, you can be sure this was not an easy feat. The original program has now broadened to include new initiatives. The Climate Corps Program administrated by the Environmental Defense Fund is one of these, it raises awareness of financially strong, environmentally friendly practices to MBA interns. Moreover, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with KKR to develop a variety of systems which firms can use to quantify and oversee resources. Systems such as these allow management to assess their progress and identify any problem areas.
The business world has been revolutionized by the efforts of these people. Their innovations have made going green less problematic for business organizations in every industry and shown that making profits need not entail the hefty price of negatively impacting our planet.
