Author Archives: Audrey Davenport

KKR Green Portfolio Program Celebrates Fourth Anniversary with Global Expansion

By | Bio | Published: May 23, 2012

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 [...]

Posted in Events & Activities, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation, Partnerships, Private Equity | 1 Response

Smart Investments see Green: KKR reports savings and growth in third year of the Green Portfolio Program

By | Bio | Published: December 21, 2011

Today, private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) announced the third year of results for its Green Portfolio Program, a project we launched together in 2008. We piloted the program with only a handful of KKR companies and our goal was to demonstrate that private equity firms are well-positioned to take advantage of environmental management [...]

Posted in Behavior, Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation, Partnerships, Private Equity, Water | Leave a comment

Happy Anniversary Green Portfolio Program – our flagship private equity partnership with KKR turns three!

By | Bio | Published: May 19, 2011

This month marks the third anniversary of our Green Portfolio Project with KKR. Launched in May of 2008 with just three pilot companies, the program has grown tremendously since then. In 2010, we announced results for eight portfolio companies, totaling $160M of operating savings and 345,000 metric tons of GHG emissions avoided.  And this summer [...]

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation, Partnerships, Private Equity | Leave a comment

Green Ops for Private Equity: A next generation offering for environmentally savvy PE firms

By | Bio | Published: January 26, 2011

Over the past year, our conversations with private equity (PE) firms have definitely shifted. We are no longer talking about “why” the environment presents an opportunity for differentiation and value creation, but “how” a firm can get started down this path.  The Green Returns team at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) quickly realized that in order [...]

Posted in About Us, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation, Partnerships, Private Equity, Tools | 1 Response

Calling All Private Equity Firms: Operations matter, now more than ever

By | Bio | Published: December 1, 2010

Despite signs that point to a recovering economic climate for private equity firms and investors, the focus on the operations of portfolio companies continues to grow. According to a recent report by consulting giant, Deloitte, limited partners (LPs) are increasingly concerned that their private equity partners are not doing enough to improve the operations of [...]

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Innovation, Partnerships, Private Equity | Leave a comment

KKR's Green Portfolio Goes Global

By | Bio | Published: October 12, 2010

On Monday, KKR announced that five additional companies are joining the Green Portfolio Program, bringing the total to 17 companies or 30% of its global portfolio. Global being the key word – these five additional companies extend the Green Portfolio Program’s reach abroad to Europe and Australia. Since Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and KKR first [...]

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Can we afford sustainability? If the answer is yes, how do we get there?

By | Bio | Published: June 18, 2010

There is a growing trend among business schools that are turning their attention to the role that the environment plays in corporate strategy. In light of that trend, the Yale School of Management recently published the spring edition of their Magazine, Qn, dedicated entirely to answering the question: “Can we afford Sustainability?”. When Yale shared this question [...]

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KKR's Two Year Results Are In: Continuous Improvements Reap Huge Benefits

By | Bio | Published: June 3, 2010

Today, we announced the 2009 program results for our partnership with private equity leader, Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts (KKR).The Green Portfolio Program harnesses environmental management and innovation to improve the financial and environmental performance of KKR’s portfolio companies. Launched in 2008 with three pilot companies, U.S. Foodservice, Sealy and PRIMEDIA, the program delivered impressive financial [...]

Posted in About Us, Innovation, Partnerships, Private Equity, Tools | 3 Responses

SEC calls for public companies to disclose climate risks

By | Bio | Published: January 29, 2010

On Wednesday, in response to petitions from investor and environmental groups (including Environmental Defense Fund), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reached a landmark decision to add climate change to the list of business factors that public companies must disclose. The SEC’s new guidance requires companies to consider the risks and opportunities that climate change [...]

Posted in Innovation, Private Equity, Supply Chain Management | Leave a comment

Focus on operations – including environmental management – key to results in PE world

By | Bio | Published: January 22, 2010

An article in Wednesday's Financial Times made the following observation about some fundamental changes afoot in the private equity industry: "During the credit boom, private equity tended to hire financial wizards. Now, operational experts are in demand as private equity houses fix up companies they own rather than wonder about dividend recaps." We've observed a [...]

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