Water

Our primary guiding principles continue our current work, inform our future work across our value chain and help us address three important issues in communities where we operate:

• Improving water quality.
• Optimizing water efficiency.
• Increasing access to clean water.

They’re designed to help us deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We continue to refine processes to identify, prepare for, respond to and recover from water emergencies, such as floods, treatment inundation, boil water emergencies and extreme weather. Annually, we use the World Resources Institute (WRI) Aqueduct tool to understand our water risk for both domestic and international facilities. In domestic locations, we use this updated data to prioritize efforts in highest-risk watersheds. In our international supply chain, this water risk information is incorporated into a hotspot mapping exercise by facilities’ Higg FEM data that helps us prioritize which locations to focus on for programming through the Apparel impact institute (Aii) based on their environment footprint.

Supply chain

Target’s supply chain constitutes 99% of Target’s overall water use, primarily for Food and Beverage, Essentials and Home Goods. Our supply chain facilities and production depend on sufficient amounts of good quality freshwater available for use.  

Raw materials

Water is essential throughout our value chain, including in the growth of leading materials such as cotton and timber, and to produce numerous products. For instance, we invest in Better Cotton, which trains farmers to use water efficiently, care for soil health and natural habitats, reduce use of the most harmful chemicals and respect workers’ rights and well-being. In 2023, we saved an estimated 86 billion liters of water through our investment in Better Cotton. 

As we expand our understanding of our agricultural water footprint and the extent of our high-water intensive commodities, we are putting in investments today to help accelerate the much-needed changes within the water-agriculture nexus. Raw materials start at the soil level so that is where we are starting our journey. We have ambition to leverage soil health practices to improve at least one million acres of land by 2025.

To achieve this goal, we are partnering with several suppliers on initiatives that promote regenerative agriculture techniques. We seek to improve soil health across corn and soy acres, driving progress on water quality by reducing agricultural runoff in the Mississippi River Basin. One example of this is our collaboration with The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska. Along with Cargill and McDonalds, Target is engaged in a five-year, $8.5 million project to support Nebraska farmers in advancing soil health techniques.

Manufacturing

Working in our areas of greatest impact, we’ll enable our owned brand manufacturers to do more with less water where local conditions demand it and aim for net-positive water quality outcomes in priority watersheds for people and nature.  

With a key focus on our water efficiency and water quality goals, we partner with both the Aii and IFC through their Clean by Design (CbD) and Cambodia Improvement Program & Vietnam Improvement Program (VIP) programs, respectively, to help our manufacturer partners in China, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Taiwan and Vietnam reach greater water efficiency. Since 2013, we have used waterless dyeing in a growing number of owned brand fabrics for garment-washed apparel. By 2025, we aim to design all garment-washed owned brand apparel using water-saving design principles. We will continue to work closely with Aii in these watersheds to move us closer to net water positivity in our value chain.

Products

Target Zero has a “Waterless or Concentrated” category comprised of nearly 50 products as of the end of 2023. By actively supporting the availability of products that are less water-intensive, we are giving guests more options and helping them to make informed product decisions. The majority of our “Waterless” products are in our essentials and beauty category, which was deemed a high-water impact area in our latest water hotspotting analysis.

Direct operations

Across our stores, distribution centers and headquarter locations, we’re taking action to reduce water scarcity, improve water quality outcomes and manage stormwater flows.   

We’ll continue to seek to improve Target’s position on water quantity and water quality within our U.S. building operations, prioritizing areas and communities with the biggest impact.

Water insecurity  

Water insecurity is a rising challenge exacerbated by changes in precipitation and growing populations. Target will continue to expand upon our programs and processes to reduce impact on watersheds and help communities affected by water stress.  

Smart irrigation 

Most Target locations have landscaping and plants that need to be maintained by irrigation. One of the ways Target optimizes water efficiency is through our smart controller irrigation program. Using HydroPoint smart controllers at Target locations throughout the country helps us water plants appropriately, finding underground leaks in real time and pausing irrigation when it's raining. In the coming years, we will be expanding this program, prioritizing areas with the biggest need. 

Water quality  

Water quality is a growing risk in the U.S. As water quality is ever-changing in regions across the country, Target continues to operate and maintain best practices in managing stormwater and the quality of water leaving our sites. We do this by proactively maintaining our stormwater best management practices, building local partnerships with watershed managers to install green infrastructure, and refining our salt application practices at stores in snow states to reduce the amount of chloride entering local water bodies. With our large operational footprint across the U.S., we can work to improve water quality in multiple areas of the country.

Target is recognized for maintaining best practices in managing stormwater and the quality of water leaving our sites. Many of our facilities have stormwater management systems in place and we partner with local communities and organizations to improve infrastructure and benefit local watersheds. For example, our headquarters in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, keeps all stormwater on-site via retention basins, which reduce water quality impacts in the local watershed. We also include low-impact development (LID) design aspects for parking lots, such as at one of our stores in Tucson, Arizona, where less water leaves the site and vegetation can be grown using captured stormwater rather than potable water.

Smart salting  

Target has many sites that experience winter weather where salt, a.k.a. ice melt, is used to maintain safe sites for guests and team members. While some salt is necessary to ensure safety, it can also cause environmental impacts to local lakes and rivers, potentially causing problems in those ecosystems. To help combat this problem, and also align with our chemical policy work in direct operations, Target recently launched a refreshed training program for ice melt application during winter at our stores, distribution centers and headquarters facilities that experience snow events. The training materials are based on smart salting techniques developed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that are safer for lakes and streams. The training includes salt effectiveness guides, proper application techniques and correct disposal methods. Target saw an opportunity to focus on reducing our salt application to help improve water quality, and with our broad reach across the country we hope to benefit multiple watersheds. We will look to continue evolving our smart salting approach as new practices, techniques and equipment are developed within the snow removal industry.