Memberships and collaborations

In Bangladesh, we have been actively collaborating with 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG) since 2015. In 2016, we published Water Governance in Bangladesh – Challenges and Opportunities Around Policy, Institutional Function and Implementation for a Sustainable Water Future with WWF, which resulted in the Bangladesh Water Multi-stakeholder Platform (MSP). 2030 WRG’s advocacy for private sector participation facilitated by the MSP continues to play a key role in catalysing the public sector’s approach to solving the water challenges of Bangladesh. 

ACT is an agreement between 19 global brands, retailers and trade unions to transform the garment and textile industry, and achieve living wages for workers through industry-wide collective bargaining linked to purchasing practices. ACT is the first global commitment on living wages in the sector that provides a framework through which all relevant actors, including brands and retailers, trade unions, manufacturers, and governments, can exercise their responsibility and role in achieving living wages.

The AFIRM Group works to reduce the use and impact of harmful substances in the apparel and footwear supply chain. It provides a forum to advance global management of restricted substances in apparel and footwear, communicate information about restricted substance list (RSL) to the supply chain, discuss concerns, and exchange ideas for improving RSL management.

We started working with Alliance for Water Stewardship in 2021 to better understand the International Water Stewardship Standard, or AWS Standard, that drives, recognises and rewards good water stewardship performance.

The AWS Standard offers a credible, globally applicable framework for major water users to understand their own water use and impacts, and to work collaboratively and transparently with others for sustainable water management within the wider water catchment context. 

BCI is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on increasing sustainable practices in cotton farming. It brings together diverse stakeholders, from civil society to fashion brands, to improve environmental and social impacts of cotton production.

The Business Network on Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders is an informal network of companies, convened and facilitated by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, The B Team and The International Service for Human Rights. The Network calls for protection of human rights defenders and civic freedoms, which are under attack across the world. We are currently on the Network’s secretariat, having been a member since 2018.

The Better Than Cash Alliance is a partnership of governments, companies and international organisations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments to reduce poverty and drive inclusive growth. Based at the UN, the Alliance has almost 80 members, collaborates closely with other global organisations and is an implementing partner for the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion. We joined the Alliance in 2017.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) started the Better Work programme with the aim of bringing employees and employers together to find solutions to workers’ issues and ensure a sustainable labour market. We collaborate on in-country programmes in Bangladesh, Cambodia (Better Factories Cambodia), Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. These programmes include assessments, training, advocacy and research in order to change policies, attitudes and behaviour.

Business Call to Action recognises and advances inclusive businesses that have a clear commitment to benefiting people in low and middle-income markets to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We joined in February 2014 and committed to providing training to 5,000 people in our supply chain by 2016. In 2020, we renewed our membership and committed to strengthen inclusion and diversity in our supply chain through a project at 40 textile factories in Türkiye, helping them to employ foreign workers.

Clean Cargo is hosted by Smart Freight Centre and is a collaborative partnership between ocean container carriers, freight forwarders, and cargo owners like H&M Group. Clean Cargo focuses on tracking and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from container shipping and sharing ocean container freight decarbonization best practices

The Canada-based NGO Canopy works with the forest industry’s biggest customers and their suppliers to develop business solutions that protect the world’s ancient and endangered forest.​

We are a founding member of their Canopy Style initiative that aims to bring the fashion industry together to support the transformation of the man-made cellulosic supply chain to next-generation solutions.

We also work with them on Pack4Good, a project that works towards reducing packaging waste and ensuring packaging is free from wood from world’s ancient and endangered forests.

Cascale is a global multi-stakeholder nonprofit alliance for the consumer goods industry. We are a founding member and achieved Leader status in 2021. Cascale is made up of more than 300 leading apparel, footwear and textile, brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits, NGOs and academic institutions working to reduce environmental impact and promote social justice throughout the global value chain. 

The Coalition is a UN initiative and brings together finance leaders who are committed to aligning corporate finance with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

We are part of the ChemSec Business Group — a collaboration between companies to inspire progress and push for more progressive legislation on the use of toxic chemicals. ​

To accelerate impact and foster consistency across the industry, we are working with ASOS, BESTSELLER and Zalando on circular design using the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s vision of a circular economy for fashion as a basis. At first, the Consortium focused on aligning approaches – such as securing agreement on circular design terminology – and learning from each other. It is now expanding its scope to drive further impact and scale.

The Circular Economy Indicators Coalition (CEIC), co-hosted by PACE and Circle Economy and supported by Accenture, aims to build on the current metrics landscape to:

1. Increase the use of meaningful circular indicators to measure the progress and impact of the circular economy.

2. Connect key initiatives and stakeholders to facilitate exchange, improve alignment, and bridge critical gaps.

We have contributed to the development of this shared perspective and the wider circular target-setting initiative.

circular.fashion supports us in circular product design. We also collaborate on sharing knowledge around the standardisation of digital product passports for circularity.

Climeworks offers carbon dioxide removal as a service via direct air capture technology. In 2022, we signed a multi-year carbon removal offtake agreement with the organisation for the removal and storage of 10,000 tons of CO2. Through this agreement we can access capacity and establish long-term relations in the sector, while guaranteeing demand towards Climeworks’ capacity scale-up. 

CLG Europe is a select group of European business leaders working together with the support and advice of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), to advocate for solutions on climate change to policymakers and business peers within the EU and globally. Through this membership we aim to advocate for ambitious climate related policies at EU and global level.

COVID-19: Action in the Global Garment Industry aims to catalyse action from across the global garment industry to support manufacturers to survive the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect garment workers’ income, health and employment. This global action also calls for work on sustainable systems of social protection for a more just and resilient garment industry.

We are a strategic partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation‘s (EMF) network that brings together businesses, innovators, universities, and thought leaders to build and scale a circular economy. Additionally, we are a core partner of the Make Fashion Circular initiative, which works to create a textiles economy fit for the 21st century. We are participating in The Fashion ReModel, aiming to make circular business models the norm and decouple revenue from production. We are also a signatory to their  New Plastic Economy , which sets out three major goals in order to establish a sustainable use of plastics packaging, and have signed the UN Treaty for Plastic pollution, an initiative founded by WWF and EMF.

We are a lead funder of the Fashion Climate Fund, which is designed to drive collective action to tackle fashion’s supply chain emissions. The fund will help enable foundational supply chain improvements, including transitioning to renewable electricity, improving energy efficiency, eliminating coal in manufacturing, scaling sustainable materials and practices, and accelerating next-gen materials.

We are a project partner in Fashion for Good, a global initiative that aims to inspire change and drive the collective movement to make fashion a force for good. It hosts the Sorting For Circularity India Project, a consortium project to understand both the pre-consumer and post-consumer textile waste streams in India, and to pilot sorting and mapping solutions. 

The Fashion Pact was initiated in 2019 by the French President Emmanuel Macron together with the fashion group Kering. We are one of the signatories, aligning our commitments and ambitions on climate, oceans and biodiversity with several other brands in the fashion and textile industry.

Frontier is an advance market commitment to buy permanent carbon dioxide removal (CDR) between 2022 and 2030. It was founded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey in 2022. H&M Group became a member in the second wave 2023. Frontier facilitates purchases from high-potential CDR companies on behalf of members, accelerating the development of CDR tech and catalysing net new supply.

FSI brings together brands to collectively finance decarbonisation projects for shared suppliers. It limits the cost of borrowing for factories and enables access to technical support, as well as offering the potential to build long-term, resilient business relationships with brands.

The Global Deal is an initiative that was launched by the Swedish Prime Minister in cooperation with the OECD and the ILO in 2016 to address challenges in global labour markets. The initiative focuses on sound industrial relations and social dialogue to contribute to decent work, quality jobs and increased productivity and, by extension, to greater equality and inclusive growth.

Global Fashion Agenda is a global non-profit initiative founded by the Danish Fashion Institute in 2016 that wants to make sustainability fashionable. Its aim is to mobilise the global fashion system to change the way we produce, market and consume fashion, for a world beyond next season. In collaboration with its group of Strategic Partners, Global Fashion Agenda leads the global sustainability conversation. We were one of the founding strategic partners, alongside Kering, Target, Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Li & Fung.

Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) is a voluntary partnership of companies, industry associations and green freight programmes backed by governments and other stakeholders. Together, we developed the GLEC Framework for logistics emissions accounting and reporting.

Green Freight Asia is a network of Asian road freight companies working together to improve fuel efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions, and lower logistics costs across the entire supply chain. The group is made up of large, medium, and small logistics companies and customers of logistics companies.

We are one of the few companies in our industry to have signed a Global Framework Agreement with IndustriALL Global Union and Swedish trade union IF Metall. The agreement is based on a shared conviction that collaboration between the parties in the labour market is crucial for lasting improvements for garment workers and to support good industrial relations. 

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent body that aims to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.

 The International Accord is a legally binding agreement between global brands, retailers and trade unions designed to build a safe and healthy ready-made garment (RMG) industry. By committing to the agreement, we continue to contribute to safe and healthy working conditions in the Bangladeshi textile industry by supporting the independent RMG Sustainability Council (RSC). Signatories also committed to explore how trade unions and brands, together with national and industry stakeholders, can strengthen health and safety in other production countries based on the principles of the Bangladesh Accord. Based on this commitment, The Pakistan Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry was developed. In January 2023 we were one of the first Brands to sign.

In 2017, we signed a cooperation agreement with IFC to develop a Low-Carbon Roadmap for our global supply chain to be implemented over the next 10 to 15 years. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development organisation focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries.

We partner with the ILO to improve global, national and enterprise labour relations; strengthening legal frameworks and institutional capacities for labour inspection and dispute resolution, and supporting the formulation of sound policies for strengthening work-place dialogue and wages.

The IOM is the leading inter-governmental organisation in the field of migration and combats all forms of exploitation and abuse of migrant workers. In 2019, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IOM to promote cooperation and mutual assistance in relation to ethical recruitment and protection of migrant workers in global supply chains.

We are part of the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a public-private initiative that aims to mobilise large-scale financing to countries committed to making ambitious reductions in tropical deforestation, while also supporting livelihoods and protecting biodiversity.

The Mekong Club works with the private sector to bring about sustainable practices against modern slavery. Members enjoy a range of benefits, anti-slavery tools, resources and consultations. Their mission is to inspire and engage the private sector to work together to end modern slavery in global supply chains.

NTM is a non-profit organisation that aims to establish a common base of values to calculate the environmental performance for all modes of traffic, including the transport of goods and people.

We were a founding member of OCA and we continue to be actively involved in further strengthening the supply, demand and integrity of organic cotton. The OCA’s mission is to build a fair, robust organic cotton market that promotes transparency and traceability and makes it easier for farmers to switch to organic production.

RE100 is a global initiative bringing together the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Led by the Climate Group and in partnership with CDP, their mission is to accelerate change towards renewable power.

Mica is the generic name of a group of minerals widely used in cosmetic products. Mica is collected at mines in a number of countries, where some regions are prone to labour abuses including poor working conditions and the use of child labor. The Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI) is a global coalition for action comprised of multiple organisations committed to establishing a fair, responsible and sustainable mica supply chain in the states of Jharkhand and Bihar in India that that is free of child labor and provides responsible working conditions. We have been a member of RMI since 2017.

The Responsible Trucking platform aims to jointly improve the social conditions of truck drivers in the road transport and logistics sector across Europe. It consists of 11 active partners in the logistics sector and is facilitated by CSR Europé. We became a member in 2021.

Science Based Targets Network is a collaboration of non-profits and organisations that equip companies and cities with guidance to set science-based targets for earth’s systems. Its aim is for leading companies and cities worldwide to adopt science-based targets for climate, water, land, ocean, and biodiversity by 2025. This forms part of the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and global policy milestones.

Shift is an independent, non-profit organisation that provides practical guidance on implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It supports and helps governments, businesses and their stakeholders put these principles into practice. 

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is a government agency that aims to reduce poverty. In 2014, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Sida to support decent jobs and sustainable development opportunities with respect for human rights, on a programme and policy level depending on the country and region.

SLCP is a joint initiative between manufacturers, brands, retailers, industry groups, (inter)governmental organisations, service providers and civil society organisations to develop a simple, unified and effective industry-wide assessment framework for evaluating efforts to improve working conditions.

It is a non-profit multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to eliminate audit fatigue in global supply chains. SLCP provides the tools and system for a high-quality comparable data set on working conditions that can be used by all industry stakeholders. This increases transparency in supply chains, reduces the need for social audits and ultimately allows users to redeploy resources into improving working conditions.

The SRC researches how to improve social-ecological systems, in particular their ability​ to deal with change while developing. As part of our research project with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we worked with the SRC on a report called Fashion within Boundaries, which was launched in 2021. ​

Established by Business for Social Responsibility in 2019, this initiative brings together 15 companies from different sectors working to create more sustainable low-carbon air freight options.

H&M Germany is part of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, a multi-stakeholder initiative by the country’s Federal Government to further improve sustainability performance in the fashion industry,

Textile Exchange is a global non-profit driving impact on climate and nature across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry. They facilitate collective action for the industry, advance the adoption of responsible production practices and provide accountability mechanisms and tools that inform sourcing decisions. We have been a member of Textile Exchange since 2004 and participate in numerous initiatives and projects, including the Leather Impact Accelerator – a set of tools that helps the industry address the core challenges it faces around leather production, from farm to finished product.

TENT works to support refugees around the world, by partnering with companies to set specific action plans. We became a partner in 2019 and in 2021, we joined the Refugee Women Mentorship Initiative, led by Tent Partnership for Refugees and Catalyst. The initiative focuses on mentoring refugee women to enhance their opportunities to enter into employment. We mentor refugee women in Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden. Since 2016 we are working with TENT and other partners to help refugees find employment at our supply chain partners in Türkiye. So far, 58 production units are engaged in the initiative.

We are part of the governing committee for The AIM Platform – a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to unlock new climate finance for the hardest-to-abate sectors by addressing shared barriers to value chain mitigation and supporting collective mitigation action.

We founded the Pathways Coalition along with E.ON, Scania and Siemens to accelerate the decarbonisation of heavy transport. Members of the coalition are committed to reach fossil-free commercial transport by 2050 at the latest.

We have been a corporate supporter of Transparency International Sweden (TI Sweden) since 2013. TI Sweden is part of a global coalition that works to combat corruption in all forms.

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Its mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

We have signed the United Nations Global Compact. The Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles concerning human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Founded at the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland (COP24), the UNFCCC has formed a fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. We are one of the signatories together with other leading fashion brands, retailers, supplier organisations and others.

We have been working with UNICEF, the United Nation’s agency working to support child rights since 2004. Alongside donations to UNICEF – both from our customers and H&M Group – we have collaborated on child rights guidelines for the manufacturing industry, various internal training courses on child rights and updating our Responsible AI guidelines from child rights perspective. 

We have a signed Global Framework Agreement with UNI Global Union and have an ongoing dialogue to clearly express our mutual commitments of acknowledging and enforcing neutrality, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Jointly, we work to the best interest of our employees and our business, which are inextricably linked.

Unstereotype Alliance is an industry-led initiative convened by UN Women to end the harmful gender and other types of stereotyping in marketing and communications. The alliance aims to use communication and advertising as a force for good and to drive positive change all over the world. The alliance contributes to empowering people in all their diversity (race, class, age, ability, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, language, education, etc.) to help create an equal world. We joined in 2021 for a three-year partnership involving all our brands. 

The Value Change Initiative is a multi-stakeholder forum bringing together some of the world’s largest companies, leading civil society actors and internationally recognised frameworks to collectively define how to address and account for greenhouse gas emission reductions across global value chains. 

WBCSD is a CEO-led community of businesses working together to create a more equitable, net-zero, and nature-positive future. They engage executives and sustainability leaders to develop CEO-guides, provide science-based targets and develop tools to tackle sustainability challenges across sectors and regions. Their goal is to create a world in which people can live well within planetary boundaries by mid-century.

We joined the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, to work side-by-side with governments in a joint public-private effort to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy through credible cross-sector collaboration. The Alliance encourages all business leaders to set science-based targets to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050 as well as to provide transparency on emissions and their financial impact in line with the recommendations of, for example, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. 

As one of the founding members of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering for Racial Justice in Business, we have a seat on the advisory group/steering committee and the working group. The overarching aim of this initiative is to develop supporting tools and share best practices to enable organisations to realise anti-racism and fairness throughout their operations. A comprehensive self-assessment tool for equity is a first concrete outcome of the work of the alliance.

We have worked with WWF since 2017. We share the vision of a sustainable future for people and nature.  Our partnership works across  water, climate and biodiversity to address the key environmental impacts of our value chain and beyond. By working together, we want to lead the fashion industry to operating in ways that keep our planet safe. 

We are an active member of the ZDHC group. This programme takes a holistic approach to tackle the issue of hazardous chemicals in the global textile and footwear value chain. Together with other brands, we are working with different stakeholders to raise awareness of industry standards and work towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals in the fashion industry.