2025 Report: So How Sustainable is H&M?
H&M operates across 81 markets worldwide, with 4,100 stores across the world and 132,000 employees.
It has been recognised for its sustainability progress, including receiving an A rating for climate and water from CDP, making it a leader in environmental reporting.
H&M Group has released its 2025 Sustainability Report, showing its work on its climate and supply chain targets throughout the year.
H&M’s sustainability targets
H&M Group’s long-term business objectives include reducing its greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain by 56% by 2030, compared to a 2019 baseline.
It plans to achieve this through its climate transition plan, which aims to help the company on its journey towards net zero and take action to mitigate climate change.
The company’s climate plan is focused on key actions, including improving energy efficiency, sourcing renewable energy, optimising logistics, increasing its use of recycled materials and funding carbon removal projects.
In 2025, H&M reduced its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 41% and its Scope 3 emissions by 34.6%, putting the company on track to meet its targets.
Daniel Ervér, CEO of H&M Group, says: “In a world marked by geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, we have continued to work according to our plan and strengthened our customer offering. We can see that what we are doing is paying off, but we need to pick up the pace and focus our efforts to deliver the growth and profitability we are aiming for.
“2026 will be about building on the momentum we have created. We will continue our work to improve the product, the experience and the brand building. We will continue to prioritise what is most important to our customers: a more relevant assortment that gives them the best value for money and a seamless and inspiring shopping experience in all channels.
“With an increasingly strong foundation, a plan that works and thanks to our employees’ commitment, we are well prepared to continue to deliver profitable growth, reduce our climate emissions and continue to develop an offering that exceeds our customers’ expectations.”
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Cutting water pollution
Throughout its operations, H&M Group has a strong focus on water stewardship.
It aims to prevent, limit and control pollution by eliminating hazardous discharges into water.
Its focus is on minimising water pollution and improving wastewater management by ensuring chemical compliance within its supply chain.
H&M has assessed the functionality of on-site effluent treatment plants and it tests wastewater at its facilities regularly.
It has also continued to minimise microfibre pollution by supporting research and innovation to reduce fibre fragmentation.
Leyla Ertur, Chief Sustainability Officer at H&M Group, says: “We remain deeply committed to advancing our sustainability agenda and driving positive change across our industry.
“In 2025, we reduced COâ emissions, increased the use of recycled materials and lowered freshwater consumption.
“With a clear roadmap, we continue our efforts to decouple growth from resource use and emissions while supporting people and communities.”
Promoting circularity & recyclability
In 2025, 91% of H&M’s materials were recycled or sustainably sourced.
The share of recycled materials was 32%, surpassing its 30% target for the year.
Its ambition is to decouple its growth from resource use and extraction, through reducing its dependence on critical and finite resources.
It aims to support the circular economy through encouraging the reuse of products and materials to their highest value.
To achieve this, H&M has worked on shifting towards recycled or sustainably sourced materials and scaling services that aim to extend product life.
It made progress towards its packaging goals in 2025, reaching a share of 86% of its packaging being made using recycled or sustainably sourced materials.
This reflects its increased use of sustainably sourced virgin paper and cardboard.
