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KKR ESG & Citizenship Report

Eco-Solution: Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)

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Offering Ecological Restoration Solutions

Key Environmental Performance Area:

  • Habitat, Water, and Natural Resources (Services)

Conserved land, enhanced water quality, and protected wildlife habitats across 16 states.

Restored and conserved 180 miles of streams; planted more than 11 million trees; and restored, enhanced, re-established or preserved more than 45,245 acres of wetlands since 2007.

Eliminated more than 240 tons of water-polluting nutrients since 2007.

All data and information in this case study are as of December 31, 2016, unless otherwise noted.

Challenge

The greatest threat to wetlands and other important ecosystems, including streams and endangered species habitats, comes from development project activities that alter hydrology, generate pollution, and damage vegetation. Research estimates that 64 percent of the world's wetlands have disappeared since 1900, and that 76 percent of freshwater species populations declined between 1970 and 2010.i In cases where negative environmental impacts are unavoidable, ecological restoration can enhance and protect the environment and driving sustainable development.

In a 2013 report, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded that wetland losses from 2004 to 2009 accelerated to more than 80,000 acres per year, a 33 percent increase from the previous study period.i In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers issued a final rule that requires compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to replace the loss of wetland, stream, and other aquatic resource functions.

Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC (“RES”) was founded in 2007 and is the nation's leading provider of ecological restoration and water resource solutions to mitigate unavoidable, project-related impacts to wetlands, streams, and habitats.

Response

RES navigates and streamlines the environmental permitting process with solutions that balance economic development and ecological sustainability. The company delivers a full range of ecological solutions to its clients including proactive impact analyses for development projects, assistance in streamlining the regulatory permitting process, and value-added conservation and restoration activities. These client-focused solutions advance substantial environmental conservation and restoration related benefits by preserving land, restoring wetlands, streams, and species habitats, improving water quality, and protecting wildlife for future generations.

Resultsii

RES has a long track record of working with hundreds of companies across both the commercial and government sectors. Since 2007, RES has restored, enhanced, rehabilitated, preserved, and conserved more than 180 miles of streams and more than 45,245 acres of wetlands in environmentally sensitive habitats along the Gulf Coast, across Appalachia, the Middle Atlantic, and the Southeastern United States, and most recently in the Midwest. These projects have eliminated more than 240 tons of water-polluting nutrients. In total, RES has supplied ecological solutions and enabled regulatory compliance for thousands of infrastructure development projects across the United States.

i U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Coastal Watersheds of the Conterminous United States: 2004-2009," US Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA, accessed August 7, 2017. https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Documents/Status-and-Trends-of-Wetlands-in-the-Conterminous-United-States-2004-to-2009.pdf.

ii Self-reported portfolio company data is not calculated, reviewed or independently verified by KKR or KKR Capstone. For more information regarding the results methodology for companies evaluating their own data, please see methodology section. There is no guarantee that any GSP-related avoided costs or added efficiencies will positively impact the portfolio company’s valuation or performance.

Unless otherwise noted, portfolio company data represents 2016 results, published in October 2017. These case studies may contain forward looking statements including descriptions of planned projects and projected results and savings. These statements are subject to the risk that the projects will not develop as planned or at all or that projected results and savings are not realized.