Blue Planet, Green Water
Only a tiny fraction of all the water on Earth is fresh, and this precious resource is scarce in many parts of the world — including places where H&M group has its operations. That’s why we are determined to manage water in a responsible way. Here’s how…
People, wildlife, our societies and businesses all rely on clean fresh water for their survival, but there simply isn’t enough of it to go around. In fact, water scarcity has been ranked by the World Economic Forum as the biggest global risk to business and society. Not only that: a failure to protect rivers, lakes and streams has caused the little water that exists to become increasingly polluted. And the global water crisis is affecting us all.
H&M group is committed to doing something about this environmental challenge — not least because our long-term success depends on access to water, the sustainable management of shared resources and a consideration for the needs of local communities
But this challenge cannot be solved single-handedly by just one company; it requires collaboration between organisations, industries and governments and a common sense of engagement.
“Transforming the textile industry’s water management to reduce pollution is a critical part of WWF’s work to conserve freshwater resources. Our global partnership with H&M group has led the way by improving H&M group’s water management and encouraging other companies, NGOs and policymakers to collectively engage on water issues on a global level.”
Stuart Orr, Leader Freshwater Practice, WWF International
A multi-stakeholder approach
Since water plays a critical role in the textile industry (from growing cotton and dyeing fabrics to washing garments at home), it’s essential for H&M group to manage this resource in a responsible way. This is particularly the case since many of the factories that manufacture products for H&M group using wet processing are located in areas of water scarcity.
H&M group engages with other organisations, brands, suppliers, policymakers and governments to improve the textile industry’s standards on water management. We have been working to reduce negative water impacts throughout our value chain for the past 10 years. Our work with resource efficiency and cleaner production has helped our suppliers to reduce water consumption, for example, and we are also harvesting an increasing amount of rainwater (13.2 million litres in 2017).
We have been using the Jeanologia’s Environmental Impact Measurement tool to rate the water impact of our denim production since 2015, with 55 per cent of our denim products achieving a ‘green’ level (35 litres of water per garment) in 2017. And between 2013 and 2017, the percentage of our suppliers’ factories that comply fully with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) wastewater quality requirements rose from 65 to 84.
We are also working alongside other brands and stakeholders with the Swedish research institute SWEREA on the issue of microfiber contamination of the water system.
We know that responsible water management is critical to the fulfilment of our ambition to become 100 per cent circular and renewable, and our long-term partner WWF is helping us to fulfil our aim.
H&M group’s global partnership with WWF on water
WWF and H&M group share a common vision for the improved availability and quality of fresh water. Together, they have devised a five-step strategy for H&M group to enable the company to become a leading water steward in the fashion industry. This integrated strategy goes beyond the factory lines, taking into account the whole supply chain and also covering climate action and strategic dialogue to tackle broader sustainability challenges at an industry level, such as circular production processes and the use of sustainable materials. The water sources that are being drained are factored in as well as the impact of H&M group’s operations at the local level such as the depletion of fish stocks and the threat to people’s livelihoods.
The five steps of the strategy are as follows:
1. Water awareness: boosting understanding at H&M group, at suppliers’ factories and among customers of global water challenges and their dependence on freshwater
2. Knowledge of impact: assessing footprint and risk in our stores, warehouses and suppliers’ factories
3. Internal action: improving the use of water and reducing pollution within our operations and suppliers’ factories
4. Stakeholder engagement: working with companies, governments and NGOs to address water issues in their focus regions
5. Influence governments: engaging with public policymakers to manage water basins in a sustainable way.
It’s high time we all joined hands to address the crisis, even those with a plentiful water source. Because, as the old saying goes, you don’t miss the water till the well runs dry.
Read more about our collaboration with WWF here.