What is Qroma's understanding of sustainability and what is its strategy?
We understand sustainability as a business enabler. We not only seek to generate value, but also to create wellbeing and be an agent of change through our product: paint. We know that paint not only transforms spaces, but also people's lives, society and behavior, in a way that generates a positive impact on the community.
Our sustainability strategy is based on three pillars: our people, the environment and corporate governance. In the first pillar, we have adopted programs for our employees that seek to provide them with new skills and training to meet the labor demands of the future. I am referring to the "Crece" program, which promotes the development of our employees.
How many employees does the company have?
There are approximately 1,400 in Peru and Chile.
What other actions do they present for them?
We have diversity and inclusion programs, but we also impact our suppliers and our customers (we have the "Manos a la obra" initiative, launched in 2020) and our flagship project, "Arcoíris", which seeks to transform spaces through color and paint. The transformation of these spaces leads to a behavioral and perception change, therefore, the consequences also occur in the lives of people and communities.
What is the Rainbow Project?
We seek the transformation of spaces through muralizations, thus attacking specific behaviors or problems of the space. At the moment of defining an intervention we make previous measurements in order to understand what we are going to modify or improve. With the result, we approach our artists, who present sketches for the intervention. There are four fronts working on this project: us as a private company, the authorities, the community and the artists.
In which areas have you already intervened?
The largest of all was the one we did last year on the San Cristobal hill. We did a macro-mural in the Leticia neighborhood. We impacted some 54 thousand people and we had 15 micro murals that took us on a touristic tour attacking the problems we had found in the area. It is the largest macro mural in Latin America and we are sure it is also the largest worldwide. In fact, it has been our most ambitious intervention. It was a year of joint work with the Municipality of Lima, the Color Energía collective (artists from the neighborhood of Leticia) and with the community itself.
Have you already identified the next areas to be intervened?
What we are looking for now is to take this project further. We are focusing on the provinces. To date we are finishing a project in Ica, and we have another one for Puno and Cusco. In addition to three programmed interventions in Chile, where we also operate.
Let's go back to sustainability. How do you make your purpose tangible as part of your strategy?
We are aligned with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and local regulations. In fact, we are one step further. We aim to be a Net Zero company by 2035 (zero net carbon emissions). We are one of the few companies in the country with such a commitment. We not only want to go with the existing ESG guidelines, but to cross that frontier.
¿What is the purpose of Qroma?
To inspire people to paint the best version of their world. Our sustainability strategy is based on that purpose. From there we have redefined our business, we have become aware of what painting, art and color can generate by having this transformative power in societies. We have understood that we are in a system of progress, empowerment and transformation of painting, and we must take advantage of the opportunity and the product to make an impact, to leave a legacy, to improve behaviors and to spread a little bit the need to live in a space with more color.
What actions do you carry out in the environmental pillar of your strategy?
We have two major environmental projects: Net Zero, which I mentioned earlier, and another that seeks the circularity of plastic. We are working hard on this front, such as using less plastic in the manufacture of our products and promoting a culture of recycling, which is nonexistent or incipient in the country. We have launched pilots with strategic allies. We are part of Recíclame, with whom we have been working for the last two years, and other companies such as Industrias del Envase S. A.
How often do you measure the results?
Once a year. Water footprint and carbon footprint measurements in all our operations. Beyond the numbers we have obtained, these measurements have allowed us to adjust our work route to reduce our footprint. We have obtained the first two stars on the Ministry of the Environment's platform, which is measurement and verification, and we are now in the process of reducing our footprint.
What are Qroma's expectations for the coming years?
The first is to be a benchmark for sustainability actions in the country and the region. Then, to promote painting through our projects, with the need to have color and art in the city; to achieve the Net Zero goal and, above all, to continue raising the standard of sustainability.
