ZDHC Impact Report 2025

Press Release

ZDHC Foundation releases 2025 Impact Report, showing measurable progress across natural capital, chemistry and supply chain transformation

1. New Impact Report reframes ZDHC’s four pillars of impact under one “natural capital” lens, connecting better chemistry to clean water, air, soil and biodiversity.
   
   
2. 166,915 chemical products are now published on the ZDHC Gateway, up 105% since 2022, giving manufacturers safer alternatives than ever before.
   
   
3. Average ZDHC MRSL conformance climbs to 79% in 2025, up from 72% in 2023, evidence that input chemistry is steadily getting safer across the value chain.

AMSTERDAM [23 July 2026] — ZDHC Foundation, the global leader in sustainable chemical management for the textile, apparel, leather and footwear industries, releases its 2025 Impact Report. This data-rich document is structured around a natural capital lens and four pillars of impact, showing how the Roadmap to Zero Programme is moving from participation to implementation, from implementation to measurable performance, and from performance to wider environmental and social outcomes.

“Sustainability has to become part of how our industry builds resilience, manages risk, and protects long-term value. For ZDHC, this reinforces the purpose of the Roadmap to Zero Programme: to align our industry around better chemistry, stronger implementation, credible data, and collective impact”, said Frank Michel, Chief Executive Officer of the ZDHC Foundation.

The report shows that ZDHC’s community continued to expand in 2025, reaching 397 organisations across the ZDHC community. It also shows 18.9% growth in registered chemical formulators, 15.2% growth in suppliers registered on the ZDHC Gateway and Supplier Platform, and 27% growth in chemical products published on the ZDHC Gateway.

Other key findings include:

• MRSL conformance continued to strengthen, with suppliers in the ZDHC committed community reaching an average 79%  MRSL conformance in Performance InCheck.
  
  
• Wastewater performance remained strong, with more than 75% of reports achieving Progressive or Aspirational performance for five key wastewater parameters.
  
  
• Supplier to Zero progression advanced, with 2,339 Level 1 certificates and 329 Level 2 certificates issued in 2025.
  
  
• The supplier pathway was redesigned, with the launch of Suppliers Roadmap to Zero and the foundation laid for Supplier to Zero V2 in 2026.

Scott Echols, Chief Impact Officer of the ZDHC Foundation, said: “In 2025, for the first time, we published data showing how using the ZDHC MRSL and associated Roadmap to Zero Programme can reduce the negative impacts on aquatic and human toxicity at individual factories. Also, we began work to both expand on those individual factory studies to the ecosystem level and broaden our reach into other chemically intensive sectors.”

Looking ahead, ZDHC frames 2026 to 2030 as a phase focused on scale, evidence and shared accountability, including the rollout of Supplier to Zero Version 2 and deeper alignment between chemistry data and financial disclosure frameworks.

The full ZDHC Impact Report 2025 is available for download here.

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About ZDHC
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The ZDHC Foundation (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) is a global multi-stakeholder initiative of nearly 400 signatories from across the textile, apparel, leather and footwear industries, including brands, suppliers, chemical suppliers and solution providers. ZDHC’s mission is to lead global value chains to achieve the highest standards for sustainable chemical management, driving resource efficiency and circularity. Its vision is a world in which better chemistry leads to the protection of life, land, air and water.

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