NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the spirit of innovation and value creation, KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the launch of the Eco-Innovation Award for KKR portfolio companies as part of the Firm’s Green Solutions Platform (GSP), a 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 Eco-Innovation Award is intended to reward current projects or initiatives within KKR portfolio companies that are innovative, environmentally beneficial solutions that create business value.
“Our goal with the Green Solutions Platform and now the Eco-Innovation Award is to encourage and support our companies’ eco-innovation work as we do their eco-efficiency projects,” said Elizabeth Seeger, Director at KKR and a leader of the GSP program. “We hope that by launching the Eco-Innovation Award, we are not only recognizing the achievements of our portfolio companies, but also inspiring them to identify new and enhanced ways of creating sustainable value.”
As part of today’s announcement, KKR also released program results for 28 participating companies in the Green Solutions Platform, 10 of which are entirely new participants. Since the first GSP results announcement in December 2015, the number of reporting portfolio companies in the program has grown, now including 18 focused on eco-efficiency, 5 focused on eco-innovation, and 7 focused on eco-solutions. Of these participants, two report on both eco-efficiency and eco-innovation efforts. These 30 case studies highlight projects across four asset classes, including private equity, special situations, real estate, and infrastructure, as well as span a range of geographies and focus areas.
Private equity portfolio companies communicating results include Capsugel, CITIC Envirotech Ltd., First Data, Gardner Denver Nash, Gardner Denver Thomas, GoDaddy, Goodpack, HCA, Mitchell International, Panasonic Healthcare, Pets at Home, PortAventura, Qingdao Haier, Resource Environmental Solutions, Santanol, Sundrop Farms, Sungard Availability Services, Tarkett, Toys "R" Us, and US Foods. Coriance, European Locomotive Leasing, South Staffordshire Plc, and X-ELIO of KKR’s infrastructure portfolio; KKR’s retail, multi-family, and hospitality real estate portfolios; and Ursa, a special situations portfolio company, are also communicating results.
Todd Cooper, Managing Director at KKR Capstone, added: “KKR Capstone’s goal is to help our companies create long-term value, which includes our efforts through the Green Solutions Platform. We are proud of the collaboration between KKR, KKR Capstone, and our external partners that built this program over the past eight years, and are looking forward to further growth and innovation.”
The announcement of the first Eco-Innovation Award winner is expected in fall 2016. The winning portfolio company will receive a financial prize to enhance the company’s broader environmental initiatives, as well as relevant and customized project enhancement support from KKR and KKR Capstone. All KKR portfolio companies globally were eligible to apply for the award and projects will be evaluated by business value, environmental sustainability impact, and eco-innovation approach. KKR will select the winner based on its own review, KKR and KKR Capstone employee feedback, and input from a panel of expert judges representing corporate and nonprofit expertise.
For more on KKR’s Green Solutions Platform (GSP) and participating portfolio companies, visit www.green.kkr.com.
To read KKR’s annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Citizenship Report, visit www.kkresg.com.
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 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.
