H&M Foundation launches toolkit to drive climate action in textiles

An open-access workshop toolkit enables brands, suppliers, policymakers and investors across the textile industry to apply the System Map in their own work, identifying leverage points to halve emissions and enable a just transition.

The textile industry must halve its greenhouse gas emissions every decade until 2050. The challenge is not lack of ambitions; it’s lack of alignment. 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, H&M Foundation is launching a practical, open-source toolkit to help organisations turn that systemic insight into action. While the System Map provides a shared understanding of how emissions, power and value flows across the industry, the new toolkit enables actors to apply it within their own organisations and partnerships.

Anna Gedda, CEO of H&M Foundation, says:

“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 System Map challenges the traditional linear view of fashion. It visualises:

• 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, it reveals where decisions can unlock system-wide impact and where well-intended action may simply shift burdens elsewhere.

To translate this into practice, H&M Foundation engaged Accenture to develop a facilitation 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

The sessions are designed for brands, manufacturers, innovators, policymakers, investors, researchers and civil society organisations.

Decarbonisation must go hand in hand with a just transition. Climate action cannot shift costs onto the most vulnerable parts of the value chain. By providing a structured way to examine power dynamics and structural barriers, the toolkit supports more coordinated and equitable climate strategies.

The System map remains publicly available as an open industry resource. With the launch of the toolkit, the H&M Foundation aims to move the conversation from understanding the system to actively reshaping it. Structural transformation will not come from isolated efforts. It will come when more actors work from a shared view of the system and choose to redesign it together.

The System Map and toolkit are available for download at H&M Foundation’s website.