Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR) and the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced a partnership to measure and improve the environmental performance of companies within KKR’s U.S. portfolio.
The "Green Portfolio" partnership is the first of its kind between a private equity firm and an environmental organization and hopes to build on a collaboration that began in 2007, with the acquisition of the Texas utility, TXU Corporation.
KKR owns 46 companies with more than $185 billion of annual revenue and 825,000 employees.
KKR has committed to work with EDF to enable managers to cost-effectively improve efficiency, reduce waste and address environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions, the use of toxic substances, waste generation or water consumption.
Over the next three to six months, EDF and KKR will conduct pilot projects within the KKR portfolio to develop analytic tools that can then be applied across a broader range of KKR portfolio companies over the next year. Once developed, EDF and KKR will make the processes, tools and results of their joint effort publicly available, with the goal of having these tools implemented by other companies around the world.
KKR and EDF expect that these actions will offer companies financial benefits, as well as improved environmental performance.
Concurrently, KKR has committed to improving the energy efficiency of its own office operations, including by participating in EDF’s Climate Corps Program. As part of this commitment, KKR will undergo an energy audit of its offices, analyze the financial and environmental benefits of available energy efficiency improvements and implement those that are most cost-effective.
"This groundbreaking new partnership between KKR and EDF will use the transformational power of private equity to achieve environmental goals," Gwen Ruta, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for EDF, said. "In addition, KKR’s commitment to EDF’s Climate Corps program indicates their willingness to ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to their own environmental footprint."
Loading...