Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. And the Changing Face of Green Business
When Henry Kravis and his business partner George Roberts founded Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in the mid 70’s with some support from the First Chicago Corporation, their main business was in highly leveraged transactions. However, in the pursuit of making the companies in their portfolio greener, KKR have established a unique green project that has fundamentally changed the method by which business concerns and environmental agencies operate.
KKR’s Henry Kravis and the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged last year, intending to make environmentally sound business practices a widely accepted principle. Their mission is to encourage their affiliated businesses in fighting against practices which may jeopardize the environment such as water pollution not to forget steep consumption of water resources.
Eco-efficiency (the phrase was initially introduced by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development) is the methodology leveraged to achieve these aims, using policies like recycling programs, reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals and increasing the durability of products. Even though the program was a colossal success, people just did not understand how extensive the consequences really were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the program and global public affairs, reviewed the first year’s figures. Ken found that using eco-efficiency wasn’t only reducing their impact on the environment, but in addition it was saving a colossal range of businesses a great deal of money, and so the project was virtually an immediate hit. Up to now, Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman have nearly every last company in their portfolio actively participating in eco-efficiency. If you look at the fact that this group of companies has a net worth of virtually one hundred billion dollars, you can see what a feat this actually was. The original project now encompasses new and innovative enterprises. The Climate Corps Program administrated by the EDF is one of these ventures, it advances cost effective, environmentally friendly techniques to MBA interns.
In recent months, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with KKR to develop a package of analytical tools and other related systems which businesses can utilize to measure and oversee assorted resources. With this information available, businesses may without very much effort measure all of their daily activities and find out precisely how they can resolve any issues while simultaneously permitting them to determine how green they are becoming. The business world has been entirely transformed by the ground-breaking efforts of Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund. In summary, these systems have made environmentally friendly business practice not only viable, but commercially desirable, and their radical ideas are setting a new standard in today’s business world.
