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In brief: KKR’s new ESG council to provide sustainability guidance

The six-person Sustainability Expert Advisory Council is chaired by former SASB chairman Robert Eccles.

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A new advisory council formed by KKR will provide oversight and guidance for how the firm should approach ESG. The Sustainability Expert Advisory Council, which KKR announced this week, will serve as a “complement” to the firm’s efforts to expand its ESG capabilities, according to a statement. Robert Eccles, founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, has agreed to chair the council alongside five other industry leaders:

  • Alexandra Givens, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
  • Andrew Stern, senior fellow, Economic Security Project and president emeritus of the Service Employees International Union
  • Roy Swan, head of mission investments at the Ford Foundation and former co-head of Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance team
  • Claudia Zeisberger, senior affiliate professor of entrepreneurship and family enterprise at INSEAD and founder of the Global Private Equity Initiative, INSEAD’s centre of excellence for Private Equity and Venture Capital

Ken Mehlman, a KKR partner who co-heads the firm’s impact investing group, said in the statement the sustainability council will “serve as a resource” to “creating shared value by aligning shareholder and stakeholder interests”.