Looking at the challenges within the textile industry today, it's clear that radical transformation is needed, and here I believe that philanthropy can play a very unique role by finding, funding and facilitating innovations and initiatives in ways that other actors may not be able to. With that in mind, I very much look forward to being part of the H&M Foundations continued journey to contribute to a more socially inclusive and planet positive textile industry.

With a planet positive mindset, the fashion industry can operate in ways that regenerates instead of depletes earth’s resources. We want the Global Change Award to be a catalyzing platform for this transformation, and I see huge potential in this year’s winning innovations.

We want to create awareness of the powerful impact sustainable fashion innovation can achieve if given the opportunity to scale. In the innovation space you can experience a t-shirt made of trapped carbon dioxide from the air, shoes crafted from wine-making leftovers and lab-grown cotton. These solutions exist and are giving back instead of taking from the planet, which is one of the keys to turning the fashion industry planet positive.

The fashion industry urgently needs to absorb game-changing planet positive solutions. We want to help speed up this process by supporting early-stage innovations and make them available to the wider market.

How we manage and consume resources will be crucial for the lives of present and future gene¬rations. All industries need to re-think, innovate and challenge status quo. Creative innovations are key to make this shift, and I congratulate the Global Change Awards winners who all have the power to help reinvent the fashion industry, enabling products and resources to be cycled instead of just having one single life.

There is a constant need for new partnerships and innovative solutions and the H&M Foundation will continue to be a catalyst for positive change for the planet, communities and people. It is a long-term commitment from my family and this work has just begun.

We’ve seen that our programs can make real change and that makes both the H&M Foundation and our partner organizations very eager to move into the next gear. With our insights from the first three years, we are well-equipped to create even more impact together in the years to come.

The second round of Global Change Award received 2,883 innovative ideas from 130 countries, which is even more than last year. Cross-border challenges call for a cross-border approach. I am convinced that by bringing people from different industries, with different backgrounds and perspectives together we can make a fundamental shift, speeding up the transition to a circular waste-free fashion industry..