H&M Named as a 2015 World's Most Ethical Company

H&M was recognised by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company®.
Apr 1, 2015 1:15 PM ET

H&M Newsroom

The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognises those companies that have had a material impact on the way business is conducted by fostering a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company.

Being a five time honouree emphasises H&M’s commitment to leading ethical standards and practices in the fashion industry and ensuring long-term value to key stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers, regulators and investors. In addition to H&M, only two other companies in the apparel industry were honoured this year.

“Every award and recognition underscore our dedication and hard work for a more sustainable fashion future. So I am of course very proud that H&M once again is recognised as a World’s Most Ethical Company”, says Anna Gedda, Head of Sustainability at H&M

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right thing,” says Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at H&M for this extraordinary achievement.”

See the full list of the 2015 World's Most Ethical Companies.

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The EQ framework and methodology is determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%).