Initially, when Henry Kravis and George Roberts launched Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) in the 70’s with support from the First Chicago Corporation, the company’s specialization was in highly leveraged transactions. Pushing further, aiming to make their portfolio of companies have less ecological impact, they have established a novel green project that has fundamentally changed the way businesses and environmental groups work. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co’s Henry Kravis and the the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) got together in 2008, with the mission of making environmentally aware business practice an acknowledged concept. Their objectives include encouraging companies in opposing procedures which may jeopardize the environment such as soil contamination and excessive consumption of water resources.

Eco-efficiency (a term first endorsed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD) is the routine used to achieve these goals, employing green techniques like reducing the dispersion of toxic chemicals, maximum use of renewable resources and waste reduction. Simple and effective, but the KKR and EDF did not even understand the range of the advantages of the project until the head of the project and global public affairs, Ken Mehlman, reviewed the program when it had been in operation for its first twelve months.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Ken realized that this program not only served in proctecting the local environment, but was also increasing the the profit from every last company besides. To date, KKR and Ken Mehlman have nearly all of their companies engaged in the project. Still, when you consider that the group has a 2009 portfolio worth 86,000,000,000 dollars, you may be certain that this was not an easy see what an enormous achievement this is. Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co along with Ken Mehlman have also expanded the Green Portfolio project. The Climate Corps Program administered by the EDF is just one of these ventures, it advances cost effective, ecologically friendly procedures to interns studying for an MBA.

In recent months, Ken Mehlman has been in close collaboration with Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co to develop a variety of metrics that a wide range of business concerns can utilize to quantify and manage resources. These metrics can measure an organization’s ecological impact and identify any problem areas.

Henry Kravis, the KKR, and the Environmental Defense Fund are true innovators when it comes to campaigning for green business techniques. These developments have made decreasing their ecological impact less problematic for companies in every sector and proved that running a profitable business need not entail the hefty price of damaging the environment.