The Dart Maker Blog

Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was founded in the mid seventies and in the beginning the firm’s focus was in highly leveraged transactions. But pushing beyond, aiming to make the businesses they acquire more environmentally friendly, KKR have founded a unique venture that has completely changed the method by which business concerns and environmental activists work together, forever.

When Henry Kravis from KKR and the non-profit environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) got together in 2008 environmental issues suddenly turned into a mainstream concept. Important green issues like hazardous emissions and excessive water consumption feature high on their agenda.

Eco-efficiency (a phrase first propagated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development) provides their mission’s framework, utilizing green policies such as recycling programs, reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals and using clean energy. Efficient though it was the KKR and EDF didn’t even understand the totality of the program’s advantages until the head of the project and global public affairs, Ken Mehlman, evaluated the figures from the project after a full year in operation.

Surpassing everyone’s expectations, Ken realized that this program not only helped in proctecting the local environment, but also increased the profitability of each company besides. Just about all of the commercial concerns linked with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman today are engaged in the project. Still, with a 2009 portfolio with a value of 86,000,000,000 dollars, you may be certain this was not a simple see what an enormous feat this is. The initial program has grown far beyond its initial remit and nowadays includes new and groundbreaking initiatives. To illustrate, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co got together with the EDF’s Climate Corps Program that teaches MBA interns how to put together and initiate cost-effective, planet friendly techniques.

KKR and Ken Mehlman have made the effort to develop a variety of metrics and analytical tools which manage resources. With this information available, companies can evaluate each of their everyday activities and identify precisely how they can solve any problems while at the same time letting staff to see their impact on the planet. Today’s business community has been transformed permanently by the efforts of these individuals. So, to summarize, the work of these organizations has 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.