Appointment of Helena Helmersson as new Co-Chair

• Helena Helmersson, CEO of H&M Group, has been appointed Co-Chair of the global CEO-led industry initiative, succeeding The Fashion Pact’s co-founder, Kering’s Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault
• The Fashion Pact is calling for a collaborative, ‘whole industry’ approach to rapidly cut emissions across the entire value chain as the initiative aims to contribute to solving industry-wide challenges
• Helmersson, Co-Chair Paul Polman and Executive Director & Secretary General Eva von Alvensleben, alongside CEO members, will continue to build on The Fashion Pact’s strong progress to deliver its goals and ambitions around climate, biodiversity and oceans

23 May 2023 – Achieving a nature-positive and net-zero future is more critical than ever, amid the escalating climate and nature crisis, and the fashion industry has a crucial role to play. The speed and scale of progress required can only be achieved through joint action, involving all segments of the industry and the entire value chain.

The Fashion Pact represents one third of the global fashion industry and is committed to mitigating the impact of climate change, restoring biodiversity, and protecting the oceans. The initiative brings together CEOs and senior leaders to accelerate joint action, from suppliers to retailers, and in its next phase, it will go deeper into the value chain.

Helmersson, CEO of H&M Group, has been appointed as new Co-Chair of the initiative’s Steering Committee. With a background in sustainability and production, Helmersson is succeeding The Fashion Pact’s co-founder, Kering’s Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault who remains on the Steering Committee after completing his three-year mandate. Helmersson will be working closely with The Fashion Pact’s co-founder, corporate leader and global advocate for sustainable business, Paul Polman, who has been re-elected as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for another three years.

Aiming to accelerate and scale the industry’s transition to renewable energy, the protection of biodiversity, and use of sustainable sourcing, The Fashion Pact is now targeting greater progress throughout the value chain. It is calling for a ‘whole industry’ approach to improving fashion’s environmental impact with an increased focus on scope 3 emission reductions. Decarbonising fashion’s supply chain – where the biggest share of emissions occur – at pace and scale will be critical for brands and players across the sector to achieve their science-based targets.

These efforts will build on the group’s progress* since it was founded in 2020, including:

1. Accelerating renewable electricity adoption by creating a first-of-its kind Collective Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (CVPPA) in the fashion industry. This project will add over 100,000 MWh per year of new renewable electricity generation to the grid.
2. Setting an industry biodiversity baseline for companies to measure their impact on nature and enabling the creation of biodiversity strategies. This has resulted in over half of The Fashion Pact members developing actionable strategies.
3. Improving sourcing pathways and integrating more sustainable materials directly into supply chains.

BIOGRAPHIES

Helena Helmersson, President and Chief Executive Officer of H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB

Helena Helmersson, born in 1973, has been the president and chief executive officer of H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB since 30 January 2020.

Helmersson started at H&M in 1997 as an economist at H&M’s buying department and thereafter held various roles within Buying and Production. Helena was sustainability manager for five years and after that production manager based in Hong Kong. For just over a year, she was COO (Chief Operating Officer) with responsibility for expansion, logistics, production, IT, Advanced analytics and AI and Insights and Analytics.

As CEO, she is responsible for the daily management of the company as directed by the board, with a particular focus on recruitment of senior executives, buying and logistics matters, pricing strategy, sales and profitability, marketing, sustainability, expansion, development of the store network and of online and catalogue sales, and IT development.

Paul Polman, Business leader, Campaigner, Co-author of “Net Positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take”, a Financial Times Business Book of the Year

Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality.

As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), Paul demonstrated that business can profit through purpose, marrying a long-term, multi-stakeholder model with excellent financial performance. During Paul’s tenure, shareholders saw their returns increase by 290% while the company consistently ranked 1st in the world for sustainability.

Today Paul works across a range of organisations to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped develop. This includes his work to drive systems change with Systemiq and bold new industry coalitions, including in fashion, where he co-founded The Fashion Pact, and food. He leads the UN Global Compact, is an Ambassador for the Race to Zero, and works to develop our next generation of leaders, through the Oxford University Saïd Business School, INSEAD, One Young World and others.  Paul’s actively campaigns on a range of human rights issues, including promoting disability inclusion through the Valuable 500 and the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust, which he set up with his wife Kim.

Eva von Alvensleben, Executive Director & Secretary General of The Fashion Pact

Eva has been Executive Director & Secretary General of The Fashion Pact since its inception in 2020, supporting CEOs from the fashion industry in joining forces and implementing actions on sustainability.

With over 15 years of experience as a corporate change maker and sustainability expert, she has been involved in numerous leading initiatives, such as setting up the Fashion work at IMAGINE as Executive Director, and was responsible for strategic projects and partnerships at the Kering Group, building the group’s worldwide sustainability strategy “crafting tomorrow‘s luxury”.

Throughout her career, Eva has led the development of sustainable strategies to foster innovative business models while building positive social, environmental and financial returns.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

*PROGRESS TO DATE

In line with The Fashion Pact’s vision of a united fashion industry crafting new approaches to contribute to a nature-positive net-zero future, the initiative has been focused on fostering transformative progress within all segments of the industry, in three crucial areas:

• Climate, by encouraging all members to implement Science Based Targets for Climate to achieve net-zero by 2050, including achieving 100% renewable energy across members operations by 2030.
• Biodiversity, by developing and implementing strategic frameworks to align with Science Based Targets for Nature, including targeting zero deforestation and sustainable forest management by 2025.
• Oceans, by mitigating the fashion industry’s negative impact on the environment, starting with the elimination or replacement of problematic and unnecessary plastic in B2C packaging by 2025 and B2B by 2030 and addressing pollution from upstream textile production.

Since its foundation in 2020, The Fashion Pact has already made significant achievements by:

• Setting up the fashion and textile industry to work jointly by gathering a third of the sector within a single organisation – a first in the industry – and building the right conditions for group action. Through working groups, webinars and best practice sharing sessions, the initiative ensures a baseline understanding of common challenges in order to identify the best possible way forward.

• Creating a baseline for fashion companies to develop biodiversity strategies through the provision of science-based tools under the Global Environment Facility-funded project “Transforming the Fashion Sector with Nature” in partnership with Conservation International. Concrete outcomes notably include the creation of:

• A biodiversity strategy tool navigator – an interactive website to guide fashion brands through the various stages of developing a biodiversity strategy aligned with the Science-Based Target Network. This includes traceability, risks and impacts, target setting, implementation plans, reporting and transparency.
• A biodiversity benchmark to help brands individually understand where they are, set up baseline, and continue to measure progress.
• Deep dive analysis reports on commodities with high production impacts to support scientific advancement of metrics and methods and to provide insights to companies looking to set science-based targets for nature and to identify opportunities to strengthen actions and investments for biodiversity and nature-positive outcomes.
• Designing joint projects tackling tipping points in the industry that have the power to unlock system change. Those actions include:
  • Increasing the availability of renewable energy in own operations, for instance by creating a Collective Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (CVPPA), aimed at accelerating renewable electricity adoption by investing in new clean energy infrastructure, beginning in Europe.
  • Helping support farmers transition to better production methods in order to increase the eventual availability of lower impact materials on the market, for instance by designing a system allowing brands to incentivize cotton farmers to implement low climate-impact and regenerative farming practices.
  • Improving sourcing pathways and integrating more sustainable materials directly into supply chains by supporting joint action commodity projects aiming to support on-the-ground platforms for key materials such as leather in Brazil and cashmere in Mongolia.
  • Developing paper-based alternatives to plastic polybags.
  • Identifying joint actions to reduce supply chain impacts through direct supplier collaboration.

ABOUT THE FASHION PACT

The Fashion Pact is a global initiative of companies in the fashion and textile industry (ready-to-wear, sport, lifestyle and luxury) who have all committed to a common core of key environmental goals in three areas: mitigating climate change, restoring biodiversity and protecting the oceans.

Launched by French President Emmanuel Macron, The Fashion Pact was presented to Heads of State at the G7 Summit in Biarritz in 2019 by François-Henri Pinault, Chairman & CEO of Kering. Uniquely, the Fashion Pact is CEO-led, action-oriented, and focuses on building upon and going beyond existing efforts.

Today, the pact represents over 1/3 of the fashion industry, with each member eager to leverage collective action to scale and achieve impact.

The Fashion Pact brings together all segments of the fashion and textile industry – including brands across luxury, high street, premium, sportswear, plus retailers and suppliers – around common objectives but with differentiated responsibilities. The membership is made up of 83% brands, 8% retailers and 9% suppliers. Each of these stakeholders play a critical role through the pioneering of sustainable solutions, the use of these solutions to bring about concrete action at a large scale, and the transformation of the whole supply chain to achieve significant reduction in the industry’s environmental footprint.

The Fashion Pact’s Steering Committee brings together 15 CEOs with the aim to represent all segments of the industry, setting strategic vision for the initiative.

MEMBERS

ADIDAS • ALDO GROUP • ASICS • AUCHAN RETAIL • BALLY • BESTSELLER • BURBERRY • CALZEDONIA GROUP • CAPRI HOLDINGS LIMITED • CARREFOUR • CELIO • CHANEL • CHLOE • DCM JENNYFER • DECATHLON • DESIGUAL • EL CORTE INGLÉS • ELLASSAY GROUP • ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA • ERUM • FARFETCH • FUSALP • GAP INC. • GEOX • GRUPPO ARMANI • GROUPE BEAUMANOIR • GROUPE GALERIES LAFAYETTE • GROUPE ETAM • GROUPE IDKIDS • GROUPE ROSSIGNOL • H&M GROUP • HERNO • HOUSE OF BAUKJEN • IKKS • INDITEX • J.CREW GROUP •  KARL LAGERFELD • KERING • KIABI • MANGO • MF BRANDS • MONCLER • MONOPRIX • NIKE, INC. • NOABRANDS • NORDSTROM • OTB GROUP • PRADA S.P.A. • PUMA SE • PVH CORP. • RALPH LAUREN • RATTI • SAFILO GROUP • SALVATORE FERRAGAMO • TAPESTRY • TENDAM • UMDASCH • VALUENCE • VESTE • ZADIG & VOLTAIRE • ZIMMERMANN

PRESS CONTACT

Brunswick Group

Fashionpact@brunswickgroup.com

Marie Jensen / Robin Knight

+33 (0) 6 49 09 39 54 / +44 (0) 7884 264012