H&M Foundation – the not-for-profit organisation funded by founders of the fashion chain H&M, the Persson family – is looking to help the fashion industry cut textile emissions with the launch of a new toolkit.
Calling it a practical, open-source toolkit to help organisations turn systemic insight into action, the new initiative will allow brands, suppliers, policymakers and investors across the textile industry to apply a ‘system map’ in their own work. It said the new tool can identify leverage points to halve emissions and enable a just transition to net zero.
As the textiles industry looks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the challenge is lack of alignment rather than lack of ambition, according to the foundation. In 2024, H&M Foundation introduced the system map, a visual framework that reimagines the textile industry as an interconnected ecosystem shaped by flows of capital, incentives, innovation, regulation and demand – now it is making it widely available to the rest of the sector.
Anna Gedda, CEO of H&M Foundation, commented: “Change won’t come from islands of perfection – in a system as interconnected as fashion, every part influences the other.
“The system map helped make that visible and now this toolkit makes it usable. If we want to halve emissions every decade, we have to stop optimising in silos and start pulling the right levers together.”
The H&M Foundation system map
- The full textile value chain, from fibre to end-of-life
- Indicative carbon emissions across stages
- Systemic forces such as profit-centredness, power imbalances and cultural norms.
By mapping actors, flows and leverage points, this process can reveal where decisions can unlock system-wide impact and where well-intended action may simply shift burdens elsewhere, according to the foundation.
H&M Foundation engaged professional services firm Accenture to develop a toolkit that can be delivered digitally or in person. The toolkit includes:
- A keynote introduction to the system map
- Workshop 1: Identifying your role and sphere of influence
- Workshop 2: Pinpointing systemic leverage points
- Workshop 3: Reimagining a decarbonised and just future textile system.
Brands, manufacturers, innovators, policymakers, investors, researchers and civil society organisations are advised to get involved in the sessions.
H&M Foundation said by that by making the mapping publicly available it aims to move the conversation from understanding the system to actively reshaping it.
Read more about H&M on Green Retail World
[image credit: H&M]
