Sweden's H&M group issues sustainability report

     STOCKHOLM, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's fashion company H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB Thursday published its Conscious Actions Sustainability(可持续的) Report for 2010, marching towards a good company.

    "We want our customers always to feel that we do our best to ensure that the fashion we offer has been made, transported and sold responsibly. To achieve this, transparency is key and our Sustainability Report is an important tool to show our progress and challenges," Karl-Johan Persson, CEO at H&M, said in a statement.

    H&M Conscious sustainability work include seven commitments（承诺） including a target for all cotton to come from more sustainable sources by 2020.

    "A total of 68 thousand cotton farmers were educated on more sustainable farming practices through our active engagement in Better Cotton Initiative (BCI). 2010 also saw the first cotton harvest from the BCI," the statement said.

    H&M used more organic cotton than ever before in their products with a total of 15 thousand tons, an increase of 77 percent compared to 2009 and it makes H&M the fifth largest users of organic cotton in the world.

    The company used 1,600 tons of recycled materials to make new clothes. It also played an active role in forming the Sustainable Apparel Coalition¹, working to create a universal index to show the environmental impact and fair labor² practices for clothing and footwear production.

    The company also educated more than 300,000 workers in Bangladesh to teach them on their rights.

    H&M announced a global ban on sandblasting for all their products while having saved 50 million liters of water in denim³ production due to improvement of production method. It will introduce the technique to all denim suppliers in Bangladesh.

    H&M also reduced the energy use per square meter in all H&M stores by 8 percent from 2007-2010. It plans to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2020.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。