Our projects within Planet Positive
Planet positive means to regenerate, replenish and create conditions for more life. To the textile industry, it means that every crop grown, every garment manufactured, and every shipment made needs to return more than it takes from Earth’s resources.
All of us depend entirely on these resources, and we’re bound to use them to survive and thrive on Earth. In a planet positive future, we’ll continue to rely on them, with one fundamental difference: we must return them twofold. If we use fresh water, we need to give back more fresh water. If we emit greenhouse gases, we must sequester it too. If we cut down a tree, we have to plant two new ones.
It sounds utopic, we know, but the science is clear: a planet positive future is possible — and tangible. But it requires a colossal paradigm shift.
Innovation is transformation
We at the H&M Foundation back solutions powerful enough to lead the transformation. With the Global Change Award, dubbed the Nobel Prize of Fashion, we’ve initiated the biggest innovation challenge in fashion history, resulting in an ever-increasing portfolio of ground-breaking innovations becoming available to actors across the industry. We also collaborate with and invest in research centres, such as HKRITA, developing revolutionary products like carbon-capturing fabrics and industrial-scale textile recycling systems. And we’re just getting started.
Planet positive is directional. It doesn’t have a roadmap or estimated time of arrival. Instead, its purpose is to raise the bar and lead the way forward. Innovation plays a vital part of it, but we can’t rely solely on disruptors to come along and safeguard humanity and secure the health of the Earth.
We all have to do a lot more.
The momentum is now
Policymakers and industry stakeholders need to unite in the quest to reduce emissions, consumers must demand more from the brands they shop from, and we all have to acknowledge the consequences of over-consumption.
As a non-profit foundation, we don’t have all the answers or solutions, but we share everything we learn and will continue to do so.
This is the momentum to reinvent fashion. There’s more capital, industry and scientific interest than ever before. Now it’s up to us all to unite, pivot, and give our home planet a real chance to restore and bounce back.