NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the winner of KKR’s first Eco-Innovation Award. Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd. (“Qingdao Haier”), the white goods home appliance subsidiary of Haier Group, was chosen for its development of energy-efficient air conditioners that reduce energy consumption using innovative technologies.
The Eco-Innovation Award recognizes a current project or initiative by one of KKR’s portfolio companies that is an innovative, environmentally beneficial solution creating business value. The award is part of KKR’s Green Solutions Platform (GSP), a global effort to identify, support, and highlight environmental initiatives at KKR portfolio companies.
Qingdao Haier’s winning Haier Intelligent Air Conditioning project includes a series of energy-efficient inverter room air conditioners with six industry-leading technologies, utilizing smart technology sensors to detect body movement and temperature, and thereby adjusting the air conditioner output capacity accordingly. The company will receive a financial prize to enhance its broader environmental initiatives, as well as relevant and customized project enhancement support from KKR and KKR Capstone.
“We are honored to be selected as the first-ever winner of the Eco-Innovation Award,” said Liang Haishan, Chairman of Qingdao Haier. “The new technologies used in these energy-efficient air conditioner units sold since 2015 have the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption and improve air cleanliness. With KKR and KKR Capstone’s support, we look forward to advancing our eco-innovation efforts to have an even greater impact on our world.”
Ming Lu, Head of Asia Private Equity and Member of KKR added, “We are proud to be a partner to Qingdao Haier for its ongoing focus on product innovation, which is poised to help solve rising energy challenges not only in China but also across the globe.”
“Our primary goal with launching the Eco-Innovation Award is to encourage innovation, environmental awareness, and employee engagement at KKR portfolio companies,” said Elizabeth Seeger, Director at KKR and a leader of the GSP program. “We were thrilled to see many worthy projects that are actively driving important benefits at their companies. After much consideration, we are proud to recognize and congratulate Qingdao Haier as the inaugural winner of our Eco-Innovation Award for its significant eco-innovation efforts.”
The award process consisted of a preliminary judging round by select KKR and KKR Capstone employees, followed by evaluation and scoring by an Expert Judging Committee. This committee included 10 leaders globally from KKR and KKR Capstone; nonprofit partner organizations Environmental Defense Fund and BSR (Business for Social Responsibility); KKR portfolio company Walgreens Boots Alliance; and global design and innovation company IDEO. Evaluation criteria used by judges to analyze submissions included business value, environmental sustainability, and eco-innovation.
For more on KKR’s Eco-Innovation Award, the winning project, and the selection process, visit www.green.kkr.com/award.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world‐class people, and driving growth and value creation at the asset level. KKR invests its own capital alongside its partners' capital and brings opportunities to others through its capital markets business. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
About KKR Capstone
KKR Capstone is an operational team of highly experienced industry executives and functional specialists. The team works exclusively for KKR and its portfolio companies on the ground in partnership with management teams to create sustainable improvements. With offices in the Americas, Asia and Europe, KKR Capstone has the capacity, capability, and scale to support complex, global businesses. KKR Capstone is not a subsidiary or affiliate of KKR.
About Qingdao Haier
Qingdao Haier Co., also a subsidiary of Haier Group, is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHA: 600690) and focuses on driving innovation in smart home technologies.
About the Green Solutions Platform
The Green Solutions Platform (GSP) is KKR's global effort to identify, support, and highlight environmental initiatives at KKR portfolio companies across three areas: eco-efficiency, eco-innovation, and/or eco-solutions. The program applies KKR's approach of assessing, measuring, optimizing, and highlighting performance to support participating portfolio companies' efforts to manage their environmental impacts while also seeking to improve their businesses.
The GSP - launched in December 2015 - follows eight years of results and impact from KKR's pioneering environmental initiative, the Green Portfolio Program (GPP). The GSP now includes nearly 30 reporting companies. For additional information about the program and individual company results, please visit green.kkr.com.
