Responsible Resource Use
We’re constantly co-creating solutions with supply chain partners to bring guests the products they want while considering the environment. We also seek to use our scale to create systems with far-reaching positive results.
![diagram](/getmedia/a23d3c70-937f-4ef4-9a74-d89434f7621e/Header_Supply-Chain-Environmental-Responsibility.png?width=1144)
Driving our efforts for responsibly sourcing materials and commodities are these strategic approaches:
Designing more of our products and packaging for a circular economy.
Using lower impact materials in our products.
Partnering to minimize environmental releases of fiber fragments and microplastics.
Following internal and industry best practice standards prohibiting the use of chemicals guests may not want.
Explore Responsible Resource Use
Chemicals
Environmental Impact of Products
Plastics
Water
Raw materials
We drive efforts internally and through our supply chain to source materials and commodities in increasingly responsible ways.
Goals and commitments
By 2025, Target plans for 100% of our owned brands, in addition to our owned brand limited-edition and brand partnerships, to adhere to Target’s already established sustainability standards.
By 2030, Target aims to be the market leader for creating and curating inclusive, sustainable brands1 and experiences.
By 2030, Target intends for the leading raw materials (e.g., forest products and cotton) that go into our owned brand products to be 100% recycled, regenerative2 or sustainably sourced.
Target is committed to sourcing cotton more sustainably for our owned brand and exclusive national brand products by participating in programs designed to improve cotton growing practices and working conditions.
Our seafood sustainability commitment to include best practice requirements for the use of transshipment in tuna supply chains.
By 2025, Target plans to comply with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals’ (ZDHC) progressive level wastewater standard3, in regards to all owned brand apparel textile factories.
By 2025, Target intends to remove intentionally added perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) from owned brand products, including but not limited to textiles, formulated products, cosmetics, beauty and cookware items.
By 2025, Target intends to leverage soil health practices to improve at least 1 million acres of land.
Updates on our goal progress can be found in our reporting on sustainability and governance.
Standards and certifications
Third-party standards help provide confidence in the practices used in our supply chain and help encourage positive change. To guide sourcing decisions for our owned brands, our suppliers utilize certifications including:
- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
- Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
- Aquaculture Stewardship Council
- Best Aquaculture Practices
- Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
- Fair Trade USA
- Better Cotton Initiative
For our owned brand products to claim alignment with a standard, our vendors must have the same certification for the raw materials sourced for the product. We communicate sustainability-related information of interest to our guests using clear icons on product labels to highlight such certifications.
Biodiversity commitments, partnerships and collaborations
We are refining our biodiversity strategy and embarking on related initiatives and partnerships, with a focus on the five major drivers of nature loss4 — climate change, pollution, invasive alien species, direct exploitation of resources and negative land/freshwater/and ocean use-related change.
We have commodity-based goals that place sustainable practices at the forefront of the way we operate. Both our forest products policy and palm oil commitments explicitly exclude conversion of High Conservation Value5 or High Carbon Stock6 forest areas. Our soil health and sustainable cotton goals and our blanket pollinator policy also encourage biodiversity-friendly means of operating, and our goal to comply with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals’ (ZDHC) progressive level wastewater standard3 promotes the preservation of our freshwater and oceanic forms of biodiversity. Additionally, we are working with a variety of initiatives and partners to help co-create a circular economy, as the products that we design, produce and later purchase also have a role to play in protecting biodiversity.
We are committed to relevant partnerships, initiatives and disclosures. As we continue to build out further partnerships, we want to recognize our current collaborations that are closely related to biodiversity:
Partner | Program |
---|---|
Arvind | Funding a program with our apparel supplier to help 500 cotton farmers in India adopt organic and regenerative farming practices over the next five years. |
BCI Farmers | Helping train farmers to use water efficiently, reduce their use of harmful chemicals and commit to respecting worker rights and well-being. |
Earthworm Foundation | Partnering on our palm oil sustainability work, including our aspiration of traceability to the mill level in our palm oil supply chain. |
Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture | Supporting continuous improvement in U.S. commodity agriculture as an Associate Member and a partner on a Continuous Improvement Accelerator Project. |
FishWise | Partnering to monitor and continually improve the environmental sustainability, traceability and social impacts of farmed and wild-caught seafood. |
The Nature Conservancy | Working as an implementation partner on initiatives to improve soil health and water stewardship. |
U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) | Representing the retail sector on the Board of the USRSB and working towards goals announced in April 2022, to make the U.S. beef industry more sustainable. |
Regenerative agriculture
We recognize the critical interconnections between climate and nature. Target is continuing to invest in regenerative agriculture and explore the best ways to integrate nature-based solutions into our strategy and action matrix.
Because of the importance of soil carbon, Target is engaged alongside other major companies in the Nebraska Soil Carbon Project, a five-year, $8.5 million initiative to support Nebraska farmers in advancing soil health techniques. Target is also collaborating with MBOLD, The Nature Conservancy and Hormel Foods on a $1.7 million project to encourage Minnesota farmers to adopt regenerative farming practices. Additionally, Target supports the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol’s Climate Smart Commodities Project. In 2023, this project enrolled nearly 780 growers in the program, spanning approximately 430,000 acres. Other projects Target is currently supporting as well as our progress on our soil health goal can be found in our reporting on sustainability and governance.
Waste reduction efforts in the supply chain
We believe that while it is critical for the materials that go into a product to be sustainable, what happens to the waste material created in a product’s manufacturing process is equally important. We recognize that Target has the responsibility to ensure the manufacturing waste is treated with environmentally responsible methods. We make every effort and collaborate with our owned brand suppliers to eliminate and minimize waste by reusing materials, source reduction and recycling.
Audits and verifications
Our Responsible Sourcing and Sustainability audit program monitors the locations that produce our owned and exclusive brands, as well as those that produce national brand products for which Target is the importer of record. Environmental management indicators are part of our Standards of Vendor Engagement and are inclusive of, but not limited to: possession of the appropriate permits, proper waste management methods, safe chemical usage and responsible wastewater stewardship practices. Read more about audits and continuous improvement.
1 Industry-leading products or services that have context-specific environmental and/or socially beneficial features, backed by credible standards or impact metrics.
2 Operating the business in a way that does not just stop harming the environment but helps restore and regrow natural systems. For example, regenerative agriculture is a rehabilitation approach to farming systems that focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity and improving the water cycle.
3 The ZDHC wastewater standards are in two parts: conventional requirements and ZDHC MRSL. The conventional parameters relate to metrics that tie to basic water quality, such as acidity and the amount of oxygen available in the water (key to support aquatic life). The conventional parameters include three levels: foundational, progressive and aspirational. At least 63% of our facilities meet the foundational requirements and at least 48% meet the progressive standard.
4 Biodiversity loss is considered a subset of nature loss.
5 High Conservation Values (HCVs) are biological, ecological, social or cultural values which are outstandingly significant or critically important at the national, regional or global level. There are six defined types of HCV areas; visit the HCV Resource Network for more information.
6 High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests can be identified through a standardized methodology based on analysis of satellite data and ground survey measurement. Visit the HCS Approach website for more information.