Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. And the Evolution of Green Business
In the beginning, when Henry Kravis and George Roberts launched Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in 1976 with some support from the First Chicago Corporation, their specialization was in highly leveraged transactions. But pushing on, in an extraordinary effort to make the companies they acquire have less environmental impact, KKR have set up an innovative venture which has completely changed the method by which business concerns and environmental activists work. KKR’s Henry Kravis and the non-profit environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged a year ago, with the intention of making environmentally aware business practice a commonplace concept. These companies aims to tackle a number of all important matters damaging the ecology of the earth, including global warming, deforestation, intemperate water consumption, and toxic emissions. Eco-efficiency (the phrase was first submitted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) embodies their mission’s framework, applying environmentally sound policies like reducing the waste of resources, increasing the durability of products and reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals. Although the program was an enormous success, no-one understood how incredible the results truly were until Ken Mehlman, the executive responsible for the program, looked over the figures for the first 12 months.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Ken saw that the project not only helped in proctecting the local environment, but also increased the profits from every last business organization as well. Just about all of the business organizations affiliated to KKR and Ken Mehlman nowadays are engaged in eco-efficiency principles. When you think about the fact that this group of companies has a net worth of almost $100,000,000,000 dollars, you can see what a challenge this really is. The original program now encompasses new initiatives. The Climate Corps Program set up by the Environmental Defense Fund is one of these, it heightens awareness of cost-effective, planet friendly practices to students studying for an MBA.
KKR and Ken Mehlman have been formulating a variety of metrics and analytic tools that quantify and oversee resources. This type of information is critical as any type of business can assess their everyday activities and find out where they can improve while at the same time seeing their progress.
Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund have made decreasing their ecological impact more attractive for business organizations large and small. Their fresh ideas have made going green less problematic for firms in every industry and established that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of negatively impacting our planet.
