The Rise of Environmentally Sound Business
In the beginning, when Henry Kravis and his business partner George Roberts set up Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in the mid-seventies with the assistance of the First Chicago Corporation, their main business was in highly leveraged transactions. Pushing beyond, aiming to make their acquisitions greener, they have established a novel green enterprise that has changed the way business concerns and environmental groups operate. Green business processes became more widely acknowledged a year ago when KKR’s Henry Kravis and the the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined forces. Important green matters like toxic chemicals and immoderate consumption of water resources are a top priority in their corporate mission.
To achieve this, they apply eco-efficiency, this involves techniques such as reducing the intensity of materials, reducing the waste of resources, and maximum use of renewable resources. Although the program was an enormous success, no-one realized how important the results actually were until Ken Mehlman, the person in charge of the Green Portfolio Project, carried out the first annual review.
Eclipsing everyone’s expectations, Ken found that applying eco-efficiency not only raised environmental awareness, but also increased the profits from all their business concerns too. Virtually all of the firms affiliated to Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman at present practice eco-efficiency. When you consider that this portfolio of business concerns has a net worth of 86,000,000,000 USD, you can see what an achievement this really is. The Green Portfolio project has developed far beyond its original remit and these days encompasses new ventures. For instance, KKR joined the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps Program an organization that instructs students studying for a Master’s degree in Business Administration how to put together and introduce cost-effective, earth friendly principles.
KKR and Ken Mehlman have made the effort to formulate metrics and analytic tools that oversee resources. With this information available, companies may easily evaluate their day to day procedures and discover where they can solve any problems while simultaneously permitting staff to discover their ecological impact. The business community has been changed permanently by the work of Henry Kravis, the KKC, and the Environmental Defense Fund. In conclusion, these systems have made ecologically friendly business techniques not only viable, but commercially desirable, and their novel ideas are setting a new standard in today’s business world.
