Eco-Efficiency - How Businesses Can Go Green and Even save Money
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) was set up by Henry Kravis and his partner George Roberts in 1976 with some help from the First Chicago Corporation. Moving further, in a drive to make the businesses in their portfolio more environmentally friendly and more profitable as well, they have set up an extraordinary green project that has fundamentally changed the way business concerns and environmental groups carry on their everyday business. Green business practice became major topic of dicussion last year when KKR’s Henry Kravis and the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined forces. Issues like depletion of the ozone layer and outrageous water consumption are an all-important part of their company mission. Eco-efficiency (a phrase originally advertised by the WBCSD) is the formula leveraged to achieve these targets, applying techniques like increasing the durability of products, improving fuel economy through vehicle fleet maintenance and optimizing data centers for efficiency. Although the project was a huge success, people simply did not realize how extensive the effects were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the project and global public affairs, finished the first annual review. Ken discovered that the project wasn’t solely preserving the local environment, but it was also helping to save businesses a substantial sum of money, and so the program was virtually an instant success. Just about all of the companies affiliated to Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman today participate in the Green Portfolio Project. If you think about the fact that this portfolio of business organizations is valued at $86,000,000,000, you can see what an achievement this really was.
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co with the EDF alongside Ken Mehlman have also developed the original Green Portfolio project. The Climate Corps Program founded by the EDF is a great illustration of this, it campaigns for earth friendly principles to interns taking a Master’s in Business Administration.
KKR and Ken Mehlman have made the effort to develop a variety of analytical tools and other applicable products that quantify and administer resources. Programs such as these can measure an organization’s progress and identify any problem areas. Henry Kravis, the KKR, and the Environmental Defense Fund really are groundbreakers when it comes ecologically sound business practices. Their developments have made reducing their ecological impact simpler for companies in every industry and shown that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of damaging the environment.
