Stand.earth applauds H&M for setting new climate target to cut climate emissions by half every decade

November 12, 2021

World’s second biggest fast fashion company to reduce emissions by 56% by 2030, move toward a fossil-free supply chain

NEW YORK — The world’s second biggest fast fashion company, H&M, today announced that it would set a new climate target to reduce its supply chain emissions by 56% by 2030. International environmental advocacy organization Stand.earth applauded the move, saying it helps reposition the global fast fashion giant as an industry leader in the race toward decarbonization.

H&M’s new commitment comes on the heels of the renewed UNFCCC Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action announced during COP26 in November 2021, which Stand.earth called encouraging for setting more ambitious targets to reduce emissions, and a new commitment to phase out on-site coal — for things like boilers and other sources of coal-fired heat or power generation in factories.

The announcement also comes only three months after Stand.earth published its first annual Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard, which gave H&M an overall score of C-, reflecting its inadequate former climate targets and for demonstrating little progress in switching to renewable energy in its manufacturing. More recent Stand.earth research released ahead of COP26 also showed H&M was among the few fashion companies whose emissions increased during 2020, a year that marked one of the most severe global economic recessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In response to H&M’s new climate target to reduce its supply chains emissions by 56% by 2030, Stand.earth Senior Climate Campaigner Muhannad Malas released the following statements: 

“H&M’s new climate target puts the company on track to become a catalyst for climate leadership worldwide, and has the potential to transform the massively-polluting supply chain of the fashion industry. But this will only happen if the company uses its market power to help decarbonize the coal-ridden electricity grids that power its manufacturing.

While H&M’s new climate target is in alignment with the U.N. Paris Agreement’s 1.5C target, the company has yet to publicly commit to phasing out all coal and becoming 100% powered by renewable energy in its supply chain. This would send a powerful signal to policymakers in countries where its manufacturing is located to stop the expansion of coal power plants and invest in rapidly scaling renewable energy. 

The fashion industry’s supply chain, including H&M’s, has been responsible for immense amounts of climate emissions and extreme levels of deadly air pollution in manufacturing countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia, because of its reliance on cheap, dirty coal to power factories, while making billions in profit every year. The next nine years will be pivotal for H&M and other major fashion brands to support a rapid transition from coal to renewables globally.”

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Media contact: Virginia Cleaveland, Stand.earth, media@stand.earth, +1 510 858 9902