Ken Mehlman Interview

Ken Mehlman and the Environmental Defense Fund: KKR Keeps Its Investments Green

Ken Mehlman, the Managing Director and Head of Global Affairs for the private equity firm Kravis Kohlberg and Roberts, is leading an innovative and potentially profitable environmental initiative. In an interview with Ken Mehlman and Elizabeth Seeger of the Environmental Defense Fund, Ken Mehlman outlined how KKR is working with the EDF’s Corporate Partnership Program through KKR’s Green Portfolio initiative.

KKR is working with the EDF in creating tools to measure and improve environmental performance. These tools are intended to help companies figure out how to reduce waste generation, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and toxic substances. KKR and the Environmental Defense Fund intend to publicize their findings and promote the use of these tools to companies around the world.

Ken Mehlman knows that adhering to environmental standards isn’t just the right thing to do. It can reap enormous profits as well. Ken Mehlman talked about how KKR and the EDF worked together on the buyout of Texas Utilities (TXU). It was a historic buyout, not just because it was the largest at the time, but that it also involved terms of environmental standards set up by KKR and the EDF. “They helped us to identify how to make that company worth more, and also make it a better citizen when it came to environmental performance,” Ken Mehlman explained. “It was a classic example of where green is on both sides.”

Ken Mehlman was referring to KKR’s 2007 takeover of TXU. The Environmental Defense Fund and the National Resource Defense Council oopposed TXU’s intention to construct eleven coal-fired power plants. For their part, KKR would not proceed with the takeover until TXU adhered to the standards set up by the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Resource Defense Council. KKR also promised to reduce TXU’s emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and to increase in clean, renewable energy investments.

“The future is real sustainability,” Ken Mehlman stressed. He talked about how these green initiatives can be cost-effective. “People will want to do this [because] they think it’s the right thing to do. They should also want to do this now because it can save money.”

Ken Mehlman also talked about a company called US Food Service. With the EDF’s help, Ken Mehlman and KKR are exploring ways of how this company can improve its fuel efficiency of their fleet. “They’re going to save money, and they will improve the environment,” Ken Mehlman said.

Before joining KKR, Ken Mehlman was a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. He has previously held high-level positions on Capitol Hill and the White House, including tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Learn more about how the Environmental Defense Fund set new environmental precedents for coal plants in Texas.

Learn more about Elizabeth Seeger, the Project Manager and Geballe Fellow of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Learn more about how Kravis Kohlberg and Roberts and the Environmental Defense Fund are working together to make businesses greener.

Ken Mehlman was interviewed on Meet the Press.

The National Journal also interviewed Ken Mehlman.

Ken Mehlman is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation’s leadership board.

In this Christian Science Monitor article, read how Ken Mehlman joined former Governor Roy Romer in a bipartisan effort to reform education.

The US Food Service and KKR to cut costs and pollution.

Learn more about the partnerships between KKR and the Environmental Defense Fund.