Business and the Planet – Ken Mehlman of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. And the Environmental Defense Fund
When Henry Kravis and George Roberts established Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in the seventies with the help of the First Chicago Corporation, their main business was in highly leveraged transactions. But aiming to make their portfolio companies and acquisitions greener, KKR have set in motion an exceptional green project that has entirely changed the way businesses and environmental groups carry on their everyday business. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co’s Henry Kravis and the non-profit environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined forces a year ago, with the mission of making environmentally aware business practice an acknowledged principle. Significant issues like climate change and inflated consumption of water resources are a top priority in their corporate mission. Eco-efficiency (the phrase was originally pitched by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) represents their mission’s framework, through utilizing policies such as fuel economy, using clean energy and optimizing data centers for efficiency. Simple and effective, but the KKR and EDF did not understand the range of the project’s advantages until the head of the Green Portfolio Project and global public affairs, Ken Mehlman, reviewed the figures from the program subsequent to a year in operation.
Much to everybody’s surprise, Ken saw that this program not only helped in preserving the local environment, but was increasing the the profit from all their business organizations too. Up to now, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman have well-nigh all of their firms involved in the project. Still, with a current portfolio valued at 86,000,000,000 dollars, you can be certain this wasn’t an easy accomplishment.
KKR along with Ken Mehlman have also enlarged on the Green Portfolio project. The Climate Corps Program administered by the Environmental Defense Fund is an example of this, it campaigns for eco-efficient business principles to students studying for an MBA.
Lately, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with KKR to formulate metrics and analytical tools that firms can employ to measure and manage a number of resources. With this information available, any type of business can evaluate each of their day-to-day activities and identify how any problems may be solved while at the same time permitting staff to determine their environmental impact. The business community has been changed by the ground-breaking work of Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund. So, to summarize, these systems have made ecologically friendly business practice not only viable, but commercially desirable, and their novel ideas are setting a new standard in the competitive business world of today.
