Biodiversity

Biodiversity underpins the ecosystems that H&M Group’s value chain depends on, including fertile soils, forests, clean water and pollinators.

Our sourcing of raw materials, such as cotton, and our production activities are dependent on healthy ecosystems, and we acknowledge that these activities can also have an impact on ecosystems. This is why understanding and managing this topic is essential to our long-term success.

Our long-term ambition is to contribute to the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. We recognise that biodiversity loss is a complex, systemic challenge influenced by many factors beyond our direct control and awareness. This includes our impact on Earth’s systems, including biosphere integrity (the health and diversity of species and ecosystems) and land-system change (how land use affects natural habitats and ecosystem functions).

To support this ambition, we are working towards it by setting credible, measurable, science-based targets on an ongoing basis. These targets are reviewed year by year, and our progress followed up regularly and subject to independent third-party verification. We are committed to adapting our approach over time as scientific understanding, regulatory frameworks and industry practices evolve. By taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality and efficiency, uphold chemical management and shift materials, we also help mitigate key pressures on ecosystems, such as climate change, water pollution and soil degradation.

Our ambition is based on the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which is a global agreement adopted on 19 December 2022 at Unitied Nations conference COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

All our actions are based on the Avoid, Reduce, Restore, Regenerate, Transform framework (AR3T) developed by the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), which is a multi‑stakeholder initiative that develops science‑based methods, tools and guidance to help companies set targets for nature, including biodiversity, land and water.

The AR3T framework originates from SBTN’s work to translate planetary boundary science into clear and actionable pathways for companies. Designed as a sequencing tool for effective nature strategies, AR3T helps organisations understand which interventions must come first and how different types of actions complement one another. As a core SBTN defined structure, it is embedded throughout SBTN’s guidance for corporate nature strategies and target setting.

AR3T represents a hierarchy of action:

• Avoid: focuses on preventing new environmental harm from occurring in the first place. This includes avoiding ecosystem conversion, protecting natural habitats, and preventing additional pollution or intensive resource use.
• Reduce: addresses existing pressures by lowering impacts, resource use and emissions wherever avoidance is no longer possible.
• Restore and Regenerate: covers actions that help ecosystems regain functionality, productivity, and biodiversity. Examples include agricultural practices that supports soil health, such as improved land management planning, crop rotation and cover crop.
• Transform: refers to the broader systemic changes needed to create lasting change, such as engagement in policy and regulatory change, collaboration with our suppliers across our value chain, investment in innovation, and piloting new business models with a lower impact on biodiversity, such as resale and rental.

As a participant in the Science Based Target Network’s Corporate Engagement Programme, we apply the methodology developed by SBTN to guide our nature work. Based on this framework, we established our first long-term biodiversity targets in 2026. This includes the following land-related targets:

• Avoiding conversion of natural ecosystems (Avoid)
  Action: Only use materials that meet our sustainably sourced criteria and risk mitigation process by 2030. 
• Reducing the land footprint associated with agricultural materials such as cotton, wool and leather (Reduce)
  Action: An aim to increase the share of recycled materials to 50 percent by 2030.
• Engaging in initiatives that involve multiple actors within the same sourcing regions (Restore and Regenerate)
  Action: As part of its partnership with WWF, investments have been allocated totalling SEK 11.5 million over the period 2026–2030 to two restoration projects led by WWF. This includes cotton farming in Madhya Pradesh, India, and sheep grazing in the Eastern Cape, South Africa (read more about our projects below).
  During the first half of calendar year 2026, H&M Group plans to disclose its transition plan, outlining the actions required to achieve these ambitions.

We finance projects that support our long-term biodiversity agenda and our science-based targets for nature. The projects we finance are primarily related to our value chain, although not always directly connected. Examples include projects supporting cotton or wool production.