Life on Earth relies on water — and so does our industry. Yet water scarcity and declining water quality are critical global challenges.
Water use
Freshwater is essential across the fashion value chain, from growing fibres to dyeing and finishing fabrics, as well as during garment care at home. At the same time, droughts, flooding and shifting rainfall patterns are intensifying worldwide, and scientific assessments indicate that the planetary boundary for freshwater has been exceeded. Our focus is on reducing our impacts and supporting improved local water conditions across our value chain.
Our approach to water use
We aim to contribute to the protection and preservation of freshwater resources globally.
To achieve this, we focus on reducing absolute freshwater use within our supply chain by utilising technologies that improve water efficiency and increase water recycling. These efforts reduce negative environmental impacts and strengthen business stability by lowering dependence on freshwater withdrawals in upstream production processes.
We deliver this through contextual targets for scarcity, quality, governance, WASH and flooding, set using WWF’s Water Risk Filter and aligned with Science Based Targets for Nature guidance. Actions are prioritised in medium- to high-risk basins.
Our key target related to water scarcity is to reduce absolute freshwater use in the supply chain. The key reason for focusing on tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers in the supply chain is that this is where we have leverage, and we can use our size and scale to help drive change.
| Target | Baseline | Target year 2025 | Target year 2030 |
| Reduce absolute freshwater use in wet processing units | 2022 | -10% | -30% |
Most of our upstream water use happens in raw material production, especially cotton. Progress on our material targets, including increasing the share of recycled materials, helps lower freshwater demand at the material stage. We also collaborate with industry partners like Better Cotton Initiative and Textile Exchange to increase our use of cotton produced using agricultural practices that reduce water use. Read more about how we choose materials.
Our own operations — distribution centres, stores and offices — have relatively low water needs for domestic use, cleaning and building systems. We install water-efficient fittings, harvest rainwater where feasible and route wastewater to municipal treatment to help protect local water quality.
Our contextual targets
We aim to contribute to the protection and preservation of freshwater resources globally.
To achieve this, we focus on reducing absolute freshwater use within our supply chain by utilising technologies that improve water efficiency and increase water recycling. These efforts reduce negative environmental impacts and strengthen business stability by lowering dependence on freshwater withdrawals in upstream production processes.
We deliver this through contextual targets for scarcity, quality, governance, WASH and flooding, set using WWF’s Water Risk Filter and aligned with Science Based Targets for Nature guidance. Actions are prioritised in medium- to high-risk basins.
Our key target related to water scarcity is to reduce absolute freshwater use in the supply chain. The key reason for focusing on tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers in the supply chain is that this is where we have leverage, and we can use our size and scale to help drive change.
| Area | Targets | Results 2025 | Target year 2030 |
| Quality |
In all basins:
|
All wastewater produced in the supply chain is treated in a way that the receiving water body is not adversely affected by the discharged effluent. | |
| Governance | In medium- to high-risk basins:
|
Our most impactful partners in the supply chain have completed the self-assessment and developed their water stewardship plans alongside their water roadmaps. The guideline and self-assessment tool are also published in the Supplier Portal for all business partners. | H&M Group, together with partners, has strengthened local water-related governance in prioritised regions and basins. |
| WASH (Water, sanitation and hygiene) | We respect the human right to water and sanitation across our value chain and support equitable WASH in communities near our operations and suppliers. A joint pilot with WaterAid showed that basic WASH indicators are well covered in our health and safety assessments. It also highlighted two priorities: adding advanced WASH indicators and expanding worker training on sanitation and hygiene. Our WASH-related targets are updated in line with ESRS requirements and we incorporated our action under ‘Affected communities’. | ||
| Flooding and climate-induced disaster | In medium- to high-risk basins:
|
Under our WWF partnership, we are evaluating local flood assessment tools which may support local decisions to mitigate flood-related impacts. | Together with our business partners, we will co-develop and execute a programme that contributes to the reduction of local flooding risks, including other extreme climate events, within flood-impacted regions. |
Focus areas
Stewardship
We will continue to work towards our contextual targets1, engaging in water stewardship2 with partners and stakeholders. We have participated in the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) pilot on water. We also co-developed supplier governance frameworks with expert partners such as Quantis, a sustainability consultancy that partnered with us to develop our water stewardship framework. This guidance will support our prioritised business partners to develop a water stewardship plan, which outlines water impacts and dependencies, and identifies clear commitments and actions to improve the state of the basin.
Investment
We invest in innovations to improve water management, introduce new recycled materials and support landscape regeneration projects. In addition, we support supply chain business partners to adopt water-efficient practices and recycling technologies.
Alongside a consortium of partners, we have implemented a water recycling project at Fakir Knitwear Ltd. under the Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution Programme (SMEP). This initiative will offer key insights into the business case for water recycling in high freshwater withdrawal regions such as Bangladesh.
Partnership
We have worked with WWF for over a decade on water. Recently, we supported the production of a series of reports encouraging the fashion industry to take a more holistic approach to water issues. Eau Courant discusses the impact of the industry on water, Avant-Garde looks at the risks, and Ensemble details how the industry should collaborate to scale solutions. Find out more about our joint achievements here.
We also support Corporate Water Leaders, an initiative facilitated by Global Water Intelligence that convenes fashion industry stakeholders through the Textiles & Leather Taskforce. Together, we are developing an industry-aligned Common Water Framework to help brands and their supply chain partners build operational stability and mitigate water impacts.
1 Instead of setting general targets that cover all suppliers, contextual targets allow us to respond better to the individual water challenges of each of our supplier facilities.
2 Working to improve water at our suppliers will have a limited impact in a basin. Water stewardship allows us to manage water on a bigger scale that considers all users within a basin. This includes local communities, business, agriculture and biodiversity.
We publish our Annual and sustainability report each year, setting out our goals and the progress made in the previous year. Find the latest version here.
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