For more than 20 years, environmentalist and companies alike have promoted the power of partnerships, particularly those between environmental nonprofits and big corporations. Ever since McDonald's partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund back in 1989 — which involved the activists flipping burgers behind the counters in order to understand the fast-food chain's real-life operations and identify waste-reduction opportunities —company-NGO partnerships have been a potent, albeit underutilitized, tool.

Indeed, it's surprising how relatively few good stories exist out there. True, a lot of Big Green groups, such as Conservation International, The Nature Conservency, WWF, and the World Resources Institute, have partnered effectively with companies. Even Greenpeace has a program to help companies adopt more eco-friendly processes and technologies. But the list of successful programs remains relatively small. (Late last year, the business group GEMI published a great resource guide to such partnerships, downloadable here.)

This week, we report on the latest partnership involving EDF, which remains the leader in this field, continually plowing new ground. About a year ago, EDF partnered with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a.k.a. KKR, the iconic private-equity firm known for doing leveraged-buyouts of mature companies, from KinderCare to Kraft. EDF and KKR first hooked up when the latter was buying TXU 2007, the largest buyout in history. EDF helped broker a deal that led TXU to reduce their plans to construct more coal-fired power plants.

After that deal was done, KKR and EDF found other opportunities to combine business smarts with environmental smarts, forming a partnership last year that studied the operations at three KKR-owned companies, identifying about $16 million in cost savings that also produced meaningful environmental benefits. For example, U.S. Food Service saved $8.2 million in fuel costs through better driver training and technologies that turn off trucks when idling or set maximum speeds. Primedia, which publishes magazines and websites for home buyers and tenants, saved $2.9 million  by shrinking paper sizes and putting more content on the Internet. Sealy Corp., the bedding manufacturer, saved $4 million by recycling  raw materials, like cotton and wood, used to make mattresses.

Last week, the two announced they were dialing this up yet another notch, adding five more KKR companies to the partnership, including healthcare giant HCA and retailer Dollar General. Each of these companies stands to gain millions of dollars in new efficiency — and have a good environmental story to tell. KKR says it plans to extend the Green Portfolio Project participation to all its companies.

Why are these efforts still the exception rather than the rule? Is the level of distrust between NGOs and companies so high that they still can't sit at the table? What are the other barriers these partnerships face? What will it take to break through them?

What would it take for your company to follow in the footsteps of EDF and KKR? I'd welcome your thoughts.

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