Target Forward: Our Sustainability Strategy

Our vision is to co-create an equitable and regenerative future together with our guests, partners and communities.

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Our ambitions

Design and elevate sustainable brands

Innovate to eliminate waste

Accelerate opportunity and equity

How does Target approach sustainability?

Target takes a holistic view of sustainability, with efforts focused on our business driving positive impact for both people and planet while also generating business results. We see sustainability efforts as part of an interconnected system, where our actions help address climate change, restore natural systems and drive opportunity and equity for our teams, communities and partners. These actions impact and reinforce one another to create change that is good for all.

Target’s sustainability journey

Our work to bring solutions that better serve our communities and our environment can be seen across our business, including our sustainable product assortments, the increasing renewable energy footprint in our operations, our team members voluntary donations of their time and how we leverage our business assets to meet the needs of our communities.

  • In 2019, we set science-based targets for emissions reductions across scopes 1, 2 and 3 and we joined the Business Ambition for 1.5°C, to help drive meaningful change across our sector and value chain, and commit to emissions reductions in line with no more than 1.5 degree warming. We are on track to achieve our 100% renewable electricity by 2030 goal and achieved its interim milestone, with 60% of our electricity procured from renewable sources1 as of FY2022.
  • Our circular design principles of thoughtful material choice, durability, repairability and recyclability can be seen in two of our owned brands, Universal Thread and Everspring, and we accelerated our commitment to sustainable packaging in 2018 when we became signatories to the New Plastics Economy.
  • Voluntary donations of time, talent and money are longstanding Target traditions dating back to the founding of the Dayton Foundation in 1918. Since then, our team has had a transformative effect on thousands of our communities and millions of our neighbors, including 900,000 hours of volunteerism in 2022.  

Target Forward continues work toward these commitments, and builds on our durable business model and culture of care that serves our guests, team members, partners and communities well — and delivers strong results. 

The list below is a starting set of milestones we have established through ongoing listening and collaboration with our partners and communities. We will evolve and add to this list as we work to achieve our vision of a more equitable and regenerative future for all. Progress against these Target Forward goals will be updated annually through our sustainability and governance reporting.

1 To calculate the percentage of renewable electricity in Target’s operations, we evaluate both the amount of renewable electricity from Target’s projects and the renewable electricity in the grid. This total renewable electricity is then compared to Target’s total electricity use per the following equation: Target’s Renewable Electricity % = (Target Renewable Electricity Projects + Renewable Electricity in the Grid) / Target Electricity Use. 

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As a company and a member of the global community, it’s imperative for the health of both our business and our planet that we embrace new ways to move forward. We know sustainability is tied to business resiliency and growth, and that our size and scale can drive change that is good for all. Target Forward deepens our collaboration with our partners and builds on our past efforts to ensure a better future for generations to come.

Brian Cornell Chair and Chief Executive Officer

How we'll get there

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Target aims to elevate owned, national and emerging sustainable brands that are affordable, inclusive and inspirational.

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Target is committed to a sustainable and inclusive supply chain that is just and equitable for all workers.

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Target plans to partner across the value chain to design solutions that eliminate waste, while providing ease and convenience.

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Target commits to being a net zero enterprise by 2040.

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Target aims to create an equitable and inclusive workforce and workplace.

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Target will help enable the vitality and resilience of our team and the communities we serve.

Our Goals

By 2030, Target aims to be the market leader for creating and curating inclusive, sustainable brands and experiences.

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Initial milestone:

By 2030, Target intends for the leading raw materials (e.g., forest products, cotton and more) that go into our owned brand products to be 100% recycled, regenerative or sustainably sourced.

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Foundations we've laid:

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.

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Foundations we've laid:

In several of our owned brands, including Everspring, Universal Thread, Spritz and Cat & Jack, we are already implementing our Chemicals Policy and Forest Products Policy.


By 2025, Target plans for 100% of owned brand suppliers to have policies and programs to advance gender equity.

Focus areas of these policies and programs include:

  • Equitable systems for hiring and advancement.
  • Financial security for their workers.
  • Effective anonymous channels for incident reporting.
  • Access to gender-responsive health information and services for their workers.

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Foundations we've laid:

  • Continued investment in CARE’s Dignified Work Initiative.
  • Became a member in 2022 of the Better Than Cash Alliance to support our commitment that all owned brand suppliers pay workers digitally by 2025. 
  • In 2022, we also launched our Just and Equitable Supply Chain requirements to further our progress in building a responsible global supply chain.


By 2040, Target plans for 100% of our owned brand products to be designed for a circular future.

Our teams will continue designing to eliminate waste — using materials that are regenerative, recycled or sourced sustainably — to create products that are more durable, easily repaired or recyclable.

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Initial milestone:

By 2025, Target aims to offer two circular owned brands.

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Foundations we've laid:

  • Identified Universal Thread and Everspring as our first two owned brands that will be designed for circularity2 by 2025.
  • Trained more than 3,000 team members and 1,000 vendor employees in our circular design principles since 2018.
  • We also launched Target’s Circular Design Guide, a web-based training hub for team members to learn about circular design, and completed testing for our Circular Design Calculator enabling team members to calculate key factors when choosing materials.


By 2025, Target intends to reduce annual total virgin plastic in our owned brand packaging by 20% from a 2020 baseline.

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Initial milestone:

By 2025, Target intends to have 100% of our owned brand plastic packaging be recyclable, compostable or reusable.

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Foundations we've laid:

  • We are signatories to the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and the U.S. Plastics Pact.
  • Launched Target Zero, a curated collection with thousands of products and/or packaging designed to be refillable, reusable or compostable; concentrated; made from recycled content or made from materials that reduce the use of virgin plastic.


By 2040, Target commits to net zero greenhouse gas emissions3 across our enterprise (scopes 1, 2 and 3).

  • By 2023, 80% of Target’s suppliers by spend (covering all purchased goods and services) will set science-based scope 1 and scope 2 targets.
  • By 2025, Target commits to engage suppliers to prioritize renewable energy and collaborate on solutions that protect, sustain and restore nature.
  • By 2025, Target commits to source 60% of our electricity from renewable sources for our operations.
  • By 2030, Target commits to source 100% of our electricity from renewable sources for our operations.
  • By 2030, Target commits to achieve 50% absolute reduction in operations emissions (scopes 1 and 2) from a 2017 base year.
  • By 2030, Target commits to achieve 30% absolute reduction in supply chain emissions (scope 3) covering retail purchased goods and services from a 2017 base year.

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Foundations we've laid:


By 2030, Target plans to achieve zero waste4 to landfill in U.S. operations.

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Foundations we've laid:

  • In 2022, we diverted 83% of operational waste and 59% of construction waste from landfill.
  • Target received our first official zero waste certified location designation from the TRUE Certification (Zero Waste) for our Hawaii Flow Center in 2022.


Target aims to drive equitable opportunities and outcomes for advancement and engagement by continuing to be a leader in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

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Foundations we've laid:


Target aims to create equity through benefit access and affordability to enhance total well-being.

Target aims to empower team members to create the employment experience of their choice through personalized scheduling.

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Foundations we've laid:

  • In 2022, announced a new starting wage range from $15 to $24 per hour.
  • Expanded access to comprehensive health benefits for hourly team members working a minimum average of 25 hours/week. 

  • In 2021, launched a new debt-free education assistance benefit, giving our U.S.-based team members access to free undergraduate and associates degrees, certificates, bootcamp programs, textbooks, course fees and more with no out-of-pocket costs required. 

  • Improved access to more stable schedules and transparency around scheduling policies to accommodate team members’ desired hours, including a new mobile scheduling app that allows team members to conveniently add or swap shifts. 


By 2030, engage and elevate community voices as we seek to build and implement community-driven solutions.

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Initial milestone:

By 2025, Target and Target Foundation plan to evolve our philanthropic practices and place-based solutions to invite participation from communities.

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Foundations we've laid:

  • Target team members have impacted thousands of local communities through listening and showing up in relevant ways, volunteering nearly 900,000 hours and contributing millions of dollars to charitable causes in 2022.  
  • In 2021, we announced a $100 million investment through 2025 to help fuel economic prosperity in Black communities across the country. We’re doing so by supporting local, Black-led organizations to ensure that resources are specifically designed for the communities they serve. This investment will support students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), expand our funding of Black-led nonprofits, and sponsor programs that elevate Black stories and voices. With this investment, Target is a founding supporter of the PENSOLE Lewis College of Business and Design, the first historically Black college to focus on design.
  • In 2021, we introduced our Target Scholars Program. In partnership with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the program provides 1,000 first-year students from HBCUs with $5,000 scholarships and access to mentoring, internship and networking opportunities. We enhanced support for the program in 2022 with scholarship extensions and new resources including for financial hardships. 


We’ll continue to evolve and add to this list of milestones as we work to achieve our vision of a more equitable and regenerative future for all. We will provide updates on our goal progress in our annual sustainability and governance reporting.


2 Designing products in a way that designs out waste and keeps products and materials in use for as long as possible. 

3 Net zero, as defined, is achieved when a company’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are reduced to a level that is consistent with a 1.5°C pathway, and any residual emissions are removed from the atmosphere through either nature-based or technological carbon removal solutions (e.g., forestry, regenerative agriculture, carbon capture technology), by no later than 2050, in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Target has committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our enterprise, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. 

4 The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse and recovery of products, packaging and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water or air that threaten the environment or human health, as established by the Zero Waste International Alliance. The threshold to be considered “Zero Waste” is normally set at a minimum of 90% diversion rate. 

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