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KKR Green Portfolio Program Celebrates Fourth Anniversary with Global Expansion
On May 23, 2012 03:00PM ET in Environmental Defense
KKR’s Green Portfolio Program, a project we launched together in 2008 to identify ways to improve the financial and environmental performance of KKR’s portfolio companies, turned four years old yesterday. And by the numbers, it’s been a very busy four years.
Participating portfolio businesses have grown from our three pilot companies at the launch to 23 companies (out of 70 KKR holdings) around the world today, spanning a wide variety of industries and geographies. The growth and diversification are testament to the power of a framework designed to unlock financial and environmental value across diverse company operations. Last year, we announced a third year of results for the Green Portfolio Program, totaling more than $365 million in cost savings and additional revenue, and saved 810,000 metric tons of carbon and avoided 2.2 million tons of wasted material across 13 reporting companies.
Companies joining the Green Portfolio Program today include Del Monte Foods and healthcare supplier Capsugel in the U.S.; Danish telecom leader TDC A/S; Versatel (telecom) and KION Group (logistics equipment) in Germany; along with telecommunications infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel and Dalmia Bharat Cement in India. (More on these companies is available at green.kkr.com.)
The program is also gaining new depth. KKR has added two full time professionals to its teams since 2008 to focus exclusively on building a robust Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) program including a comprehensive annual report (the second one is due this summer). The firm has also launched key partnerships with Business for Social Responsibility focusing on supply chain sustainability, and Transparency International to concentrate on governance.
See EDF’s Fred Krupp and KKR’s Henry Kravis discussing four years of Green Portfolio experience.
KKR’s efforts are critical in our effort to raise the bar for the private equity industry more broadly. In fact, we’re now seeing a number of top firms competing on environmental performance, as they discover the financial benefits that come from looking at their businesses with fresh eyes.
So congratulations, KKR. We look forward to what the next four years will hold and hope to see an even faster race to the top.
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Source: EnvironmentalDefense