Rewriting the Fashion Equation

H&M Group operates roughly 4,253 stores across 75+ markets and generated SEK 234 billion in FY 2024 net sales, a business model structurally at odds with sustainability, from coal-reliant supply chains to a 2012 greenwashing controversy over its own Conscious label.

H&M built the Green Fashion Initiative to fund supplier decarbonisation, pursued Direct Power Purchase Agreement legislation in Vietnam and Bangladesh, moved sustainability claims under legal review after the Higg MSI controversy, and extended Scope 3 data collection to Tier 3 spinning mills.

By FY 2024, Scope 1 and 2 emissions were down 41% and Scope 3 down 24% against a 2019 baseline, coal boilers fell from 118 to 27, and operating profit grew 19% year-on-year to SEK 17.3 billion.