Länsförsäkringar response to the Fair Action report “Broke in Bangladesh”
At Länsförsäkringar Fondförvaltning we do a sustainability analysis of the Swedish companies held within our actively managed portfolios, including H&M. We believe
that H&M has strong ESG practice but at the same time we are aware of the fact that their business poses great challenges. We therefore have a close dialogue with the company and we monitor how their sustainability work is being developed. The issue of living wages has been a priority issues at our latest meetings with the company. Our latest sustainability meeting with H&M was in February 2019.
We have reviewed the independent evaluation of H&Ms work made by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and we will monitor H&Ms consideration of the recommendations from that evaluation in their continued work. We share the view of ETI that H&M alone cannot change wage levels without the collaboration with other companies in the industry, with organizations such as the ILO and with the governments of the countries involved. Continued work with efficient wage management systems and strong representation of the workers at the factories is also required. These are issues that H&M is already working with but where they must continue to set clear requirements for their suppliers. These are all issues that will be part of our dialog with H&M going further.