Before this week, shoppers had the ability to go on H&M's website and check the environmental impact of the clothing they wanted to buy, as all of the garments are rated by the Higg Materials Sustainability Index, which is essentially a tool that was launched last year by a global non-profit alliance, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

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For example, you could see that a cotton shirt was described as using "50% less water than conventional materials" or that the "global warming impact was 10% less than conventional materials".

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However, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition has just announced that it is placing a pause on its product-labeling tool after the Norwegian Consumer Authority (NCA) warned H&M Group two weeks ago against using the Higg index to support its environmental claims. 

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Additionally, if they were to continue such marketing by the first of September, it would risk economic sanctions.

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Norway's consumer watchdog didn't investigate all of H&M's claims, but they did with a Norwegian outdoor brand, Norrøna (who also used the Higg index on its website). Ultimately concluding that the majority of the data was actually misleading.

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Fashion sustainability activists are overjoyed after SAC's announcement, as they've been complaining about the overall methodologies, describing it as greenwashing.