Community development

At H&M Group, we believe we have a responsibility to conduct our business in a way that respects the rights of people in communities that may be affected by our operations and activities across the value chain. We aim to build a value chain where people in these communities have a voice and the opportunity to raise concerns.

Affected communities

We consider the views and interests of people living in affected communities when developing our strategy, to ensure continued respect for their human and land rights. Affected communities are defined as local groups of people living in or near areas that are, or could be, directly or indirectly impacted by our value chain activities, including areas where indigenous peoples are present. We aim to promote business practices that support local communities and their development, primarily by driving initiatives that prevent or mitigate potential and actual negative impacts. As our business depends on both the land and the people of these communities — particularly for the production of raw materials — a key focus is to build meaningful relationships and ensure their voices are heard through appropriate channels.

At the same time, our business model and strategy are continuously adapted to address material matters in the communities where we operate and to reduce risks related to land rights violations. These efforts are closely linked to our work to reduce dependence on critical and finite resources, as well as to limit pollution and land degradation. The purpose of these efforts is to reduce negative impacts on both people and the environment, while improving the resilience of our business model by reducing our risk exposure.

Community engagement

At H&M Group, we also want to contribute to community initiatives.

Our objective is to empower communities by supporting marginalised, underprivileged and vulnerable groups, as well as initiatives focused on climate and nature. This includes contributions through donations and partnerships with NGOs.

How we engage with communities

Our voluntary contributions include donations and partnerships with NGOs such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Save the Children and many more.
As an example, in 2024 we made donations of USD 1 million to UNHCR and USD 1 million to Save the Children for their work in Ukraine.
We also donated USD 250,000 to UNHCR for emergency action following flooding in Brazil, and USD 100,000 to support UN Free & Equal during Pride Month.
We engaged more than 500,000 customers to donate USD 852,000 to various causes in collaboration with our payment solution provider Adyen.