Model Agency 411

Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was established by Henry Kravis and George Roberts in the mid-seventies with the assistance of the First Chicago Corporation. But moving further, in a drive to make their acquisitions more environmentally friendly and more profitable to boot, KKR have set up a unique green enterprise that has fundamentally transformed the way business concerns and environmental activists work.

When Henry Kravis from KKR and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged just a year ago green matters in the business community became major topic. Their mission is to encourage their affiliated businesses in opposing environmental menaces like hazardous chemicals and any overblown water consumption.

Eco-efficiency (the phrase was originally endorsed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) is the routine used to achieve these goals, by employing environmentally sound techniques such as reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals, increasing the durability of products and reducing the intensity of materials. Effective though it was the firms involved didn’t see the full program’s advantages until the man in charge of the Green Portfolio Project, Ken Mehlman, evaluated the program subsequent to its first year in operation. Topping all expectations, Ken found that eco-efficiency not only reduced environmental impact, but was increasing the the net profit from all their companies too. Up to now, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman have succeeded in getting almost every associated company participating in eco-efficiency principles. If you look at the fact that the group has a net worth of virtually one hundred billion dollars, you can see what a feat this actually was. The initial Green Portfolio project has now expanded to encompass new ventures. To illustrate, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co got together with the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps Program a venture which instructs MBA interns how to introduce cost effective, ecologically friendly techniques.

KKR and Ken Mehlman have been creating metrics which can measure and manipulate various resources. This type of information is invaluable as any business may without very much effort evaluate all of their day to day operations and find out where any issues can be resolved while simultaneously seeing their progress. Henry Kravis, the KKR, and the Environmental Defense Fund are trailblazers in the business world. Their innovations have set a high standard for businesses in any industry and proved that making profits need not entail the hefty price of negatively impacting our planet.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 2:51 am and is filed under Social Center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.