Ecologically Sound Business: Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. And the Environmental Defense Fund
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was set up in 1976 and in those days their main business was in highly leveraged transactions. However, in the pursuit of making the companies in their portfolio have less environmental impact, they have established an extraordinary venture that has entirely changed the method by which business concerns and environmental groups operate. Green business processes became more widely acceptable a year ago when Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co’s Henry Kravis and the independent Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged. Their company mission is to offer encouragement to their associated firms to oppose environmental threats such as hazardous waste and any irresponsible consumption of water resources. In order to implement these goals, they employ eco-efficiency which makes use of concepts like maximum use of renewable resources, increasing the durability of products, and reducing the intensity of materials. Even though the project was a tremendous success, managment just did not understand how far-reaching the results really were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the project and global public affairs, finished the review of the first year.
Knocking off everybody’s expectations, Ken discovered that this program not only lessened ecological impact, but was increasing the the profit from each company too. To date, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman have nearly all of their companies actively involved in the program. Still, when you consider that the group has a 2009 business portfolio worth $86,000,000,000, you may be certain this was not an easy accomplishment. The original program has grown beyond its initial purpose and today includes new and groundbreaking initiatives. For example, KKR joined the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps Program an organization which instructs MBA students how to encourage financially strong, green principles. What is more, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co to formulate a package of analytical tools which business organizations can use to evaluate and administer a wide range of resources. These systems can track an organization’s environmental impact and discover any problem areas.
The business community has been transformed forever by the work of these individuals. Their radical concepts have set a high standard for firms in every industry and illustrated that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of damaging the environment.
Written on November 29th, 2009 with
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