The Rise of Green Business
When Henry Kravis and his business partner George Roberts established Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in the 70’s with support from the First Chicago Corporation, their specialization was in highly leveraged transactions. However, hoping to make the companies in their portfolio have less environmental impact, they have established a unique green enterprise that has totally transformed the method by which businesses and environmental agencies work in a major way. KKR’s Henry Kravis and the independent Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) merged a year ago, with the goal of making green business operation an accepted idea. Their goals include encouraging their affiliated firms to fight against operations which may harm the environment e.g. toxic chemicals and extravagant consumption of water resources.
Eco-efficiency (a term originally popularized by the WBCSD) is the method applied to achieve these targets, by applying techniques such as fuel economy, improving fuel economy through vehicle fleet maintenance and maximum use of renewable resources. Although the project was a huge success, managment just did not understand how fantastic the effects were until Ken Mehlman, the head of the Green Portfolio Project and global public affairs, examined the profits for the first year.
Ken Mehlman saw that eco-efficiency wasn’t just reducing their ecological impact, but additionally it was saving a tremendous range of companies a considerable sum of money. Just about all of the firms linked with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co and Ken Mehlman nowadays take part in the Green Portfolio Project. If you look at the fact that the group is worth almost $100 billion dollars, you can be certain that this was no easy feat. KKR with the EDF with the assistance of Ken Mehlman have also developed the initial Green Portfolio project. The Climate Corps Program set up by the EDF is just one of these, it promotes eco-efficient principles to MBA interns. In addition, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with KKR to create products which all sorts of business organizations can utilize to measure and oversee a number of resources. Programs like these allow staff see how ecologically friendly they are and discover any underlying problems. Henry Kravis, the KKR, and the Environmental Defense Fund are trailblazers when it comes ecologically friendly business development. Their unique concepts have simplified the procedure for companies in any industry and established that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of negatively impacting our planet.
