As one of the largest retailers in the United States, Target wields immense influence over what millions of Americans buy and massive sway over the industries that supply its sprawling assortment of products. With great power comes great responsibility, as the saying goes, so it‘s critical to examine how Target is wielding this clout. Is the bullseye brand doing right by people, animals and the planet, or is it missing the mark?
The short answer is that Target‘s ethical record is a mixed bag, showing notable progress in some areas and falling short in others. To its credit, Target has set a raft of ambitious goals around important issues like climate change, waste reduction, sustainable sourcing, and safer chemicals, and appears to be making incremental progress toward achieving them. However, many of Target‘s commitments still lack the urgency and depth that the escalating environmental and social crises demand, and its core business model remains one of selling huge volumes of new stuff, much of which is fated for landfills before long.
Let‘s dive deeper into Target‘s ethical and sustainability scorecard across three key spheres — the environment, labor, and animal welfare — to gain a more nuanced and comprehensive picture of where the retail giant is making strides and where it has room for improvement.
People: Labor Practices, Wages, and Supply Chain Ethics
With nearly half a million employees globally (which it calls "team members"), Target‘s people footprint is massive. The company says it strives to be an employer of choice by investing in its workers, and points to a number of notable benefits and practices to support this claim:
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In 2020, Target raised its starting wage to $15 per hour and expanded benefits like paid family leave, tuition assistance, and virtual healthcare access. Target says the average hourly wage will reach $17 in 2023.
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Target offers up to 14 days of paid time off and holidays to hourly workers annually, with accrual limits increasing over time. During the pandemic, Target gave frontline workers bonus pay and additional leave options.
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Target has funded several employee resource groups to support underrepresented team members and says it ties executive compensation to diversity and inclusion goals. In 2021, Target reported that BIPOC representation at the officer level increased from 18% to 24% over the past 5 years.
While these are positive policies, Target‘s labor record is not unblemished. The company has faced allegations of wage theft, with workers claiming they were pressured to work off the clock or denied full overtime pay. Target has also been accused of union-busting practices, such as distributing anti-union videos to employees and retaliating against workers involved in organizing efforts. In a 2014 email, the company told store managers to look out for warning signs of potential unionizing activity.
Whether Target‘s wages constitute a true living wage is also debatable. According to 2022 data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single adult working full-time would need to earn $21.77 per hour to support themselves in an expensive metro like New York City. For a single parent with just one child, that number jumps to $40.16. So while $15 or even $17 per hour may exceed the federal minimum wage, it still may not cut it for many Target workers, nearly one-third of whom are parents. To its credit, Target says it is committed to achieving pay equity and has eliminated the starting wage differential between U.S. and Canadian team members.
When it comes to Target‘s sprawling global supply chain, the picture gets even murkier. To be fair, Target has developed and published labor standards that its suppliers must abide by, including no forced or child labor, no discrimination, and safe working conditions. Target says it regularly audits a portion of its factories for compliance with these standards and works with suppliers on corrective action plans when issues are uncovered.
However, independent investigations have linked Target‘s supply chain to forced labor practices in recent years, showing the limitations of the company‘s oversight:
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In 2018, an AP investigation found that some seafood products sold at Target were processed by North Korean workers subjected to forced labor conditions in China. Target responded by cutting ties with the supplier in question.
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In 2019, the NGO China Labor Watch reported finding labor abuses like forced overtime and insufficient safety training at a factory making Target goods in Guangzhou. Target said it investigated the claims and developed a remediation plan with the supplier.
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In 2021, the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark gave Target a score of 11.5 out of 26 on human rights due diligence, indicating room for improvement on proactively identifying and mitigating labor risks.
Given the complexity and opacity of multi-tier supply chains, no company has a spotless record when it comes to eradicating labor exploitation. However, as a leader in the industry, Target has both the responsibility and leverage to do more to ensure and enforce ethical working conditions all the way upstream.
Planet: Target‘s Environmental Footprint and Sustainability Goals
As a retailer that sold over $100 billion worth of goods in 2021 alone, Target‘s ecological footprint is supersized. To its credit, the company has developed a relatively robust sustainability strategy and set targets across critical impact areas like emissions, waste, water, and chemicals. Here‘s a closer look at Target‘s environmental commitments and progress:
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Climate: Target has pledged to reduce its absolute scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2017 levels by 2030, and to achieve net-zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. As of 2021, Target says it has reduced its operational emissions (scopes 1+2) by 32% compared to 2017. However, scope 3 emissions from Target‘s supply chain and product use actually increased by 16.5% between 2017 and 2020, indicating that the company has much more work to do upstream and downstream.
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Energy: Target aims to source 100% of its electricity from renewable sources for its operations by 2030. As of 2021, the company had secured enough renewable capacity to power nearly half of its U.S. operations and says it is over 25% of the way toward its 100% goal. Target has also installed solar rooftop systems on over 500 stores and distribution centers.
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Waste: By 2030, Target aims to divert 90% of its U.S. operations waste from landfills through reduction, reuse, and recycling programs. The company has also pledged to make 100% of its own-brand packaging recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2025. As of 2021, Target said it had reduced its operational waste by 44% compared to 2017 and that over 80% of its own-brand packages are now recyclable by design.
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Chemicals: Target has committed to driving out certain unwanted chemicals from its assortment, including phthalates, parabens, and formaldehyde donors from textiles and formulated products. The company says it has made over 100,000 formula changes since 2017 to remove these chemicals of concern. However, advocates point out that Target‘s chemical policy does not cover its entire product assortment and could go further.
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Water: Target has set a goal to reduce its water withdrawal by 15% for stores, distribution centers, and headquarters locations by 2025, compared to 2010 levels. The company says it is working to improve water efficiency across its operations and investing in community water conservation projects. However, Target does not appear to have a comprehensive strategy for addressing water risks and impacts in its agricultural and manufacturing supply chains, where the bulk of its water footprint lies.
While these goals represent progress, Target‘s sustainability strategy is not immune from critique:
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Speed and scale of commitments: Given the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis, advocates argue that Target‘s decarbonization goals are too little, too late. To have a good chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C, science shows we must halve emissions by 2030. A 30% reduction falls short of that mark, and punting net-zero out to 2040 risks blowing past climatic tipping points.
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Lack of supply chain focus: The vast majority of Target‘s environmental impact lies upstream and downstream from its own operations. While the company has set an emissions reduction target for its entire value chain, it has not set similarly comprehensive goals around nature, water, chemicals, and waste that cover its sprawling supply chain. This is a key gap that must be closed.
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Reliance on recycling: Target‘s primary waste strategy centers on making its packaging recyclable and pushing for more recycling, but experts agree this is not enough. Only 9% of all the world‘s plastic waste ever produced has been recycled, with the rest ending up in landfills, incinerators, and the environment. To get serious about waste, Target must prioritize reducing virgin plastic use, scaling refill/reuse models, and pressuring its suppliers to dematerialize their products and packaging.
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Growth-based business model: Perhaps the most fundamental critique of Target‘s sustainability approach is that it is still based on a model of unconstrained growth in sales and consumption. Even as Target works to green its operations and offerings, it remains committed to growing revenue and expanding its store count each year. On a finite planet, the "sell more stuff" imperative is increasingly incompatible with true sustainability and natural resource limits.
Animals: How Humane is Target?
As a grocery retailer that sells meat, dairy, eggs, and other animal products, Target has come under scrutiny for its animal welfare practices and policies. To its credit, Target has made some progressive commitments around key welfare issues in recent years:
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Eggs: Target has pledged to source 100% cage-free eggs for its U.S. stores by 2025, in partnership with its suppliers. As of 2021, the company says over half of its egg assortment is now cage-free.
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Pork: Target has committed to eliminating gestation crates (highly restrictive enclosures) for pregnant pigs in its pork supply chain and says it is engaging suppliers on more humane alternatives.
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Cosmetics: Target says it does not sell cosmetic products that have been tested on animals and requires its beauty suppliers to certify their adherence to this policy.
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Antibiotics: Target says it is working with its meat suppliers to eliminate the routine use of medically important antibiotics and shared aggregated data in 2021 showing that 23% of its chicken, 18% of its beef, and 3% of its pork was raised without sub-therapeutic antibiotics. The company has also set a specific policy prohibiting suppliers from using antibiotics for growth promotion in poultry.
While these commitments represent progress, animal advocates argue that Target‘s welfare policies still leave much to be desired:
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Limited species coverage: Target has not set baseline welfare standards or made quantitative commitments for other farmed species like chickens raised for meat, cows, and turkeys. These represent the vast majority of animals in Target‘s supply chain.
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Lack of specificity: For the species it does cover, Target‘s welfare policies tend to be vague on the details. The company says it expects suppliers to follow the "Five Freedoms" of animal welfare but does not spell out the specific housing conditions, space requirements, or environmental enrichments this entails.
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No higher-welfare offerings: Unlike some of its competitors, Target does not appear to offer or promote any third-party certified higher welfare options like Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved, or Global Animal Partnership (GAP) rated products. Providing consumers with these more ethical choices could help drive the market for better farmed animal treatment.
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Reliance on suppliers: While Target has set some progressive welfare goals, it relies heavily on its suppliers to implement them without always providing robust guardrails, transparency, or accountability measures. The company could do more to audit supplier practices and monitor for compliance.
Farmed animal welfare remains one of the most neglected ESG issues in the food industry, with an estimated 90% of the world‘s farmed animals being raised in intensive, industrial "factory farm" conditions. As one of the largest grocers in the U.S., Target has an opportunity and obligation to use its immense buying power to push for a more humane and sustainable animal agriculture system for the millions of creatures in its supply chains.
The takeaway: Target must aim higher
Taken together, Target‘s ethical and sustainability profile shows a company making measured progress but not yet rising to the level of transformational leadership. On one hand, the retailer has set noteworthy goals around emissions, waste, sustainable sourcing, and worker well-being, and appears to be inching in the right direction. Its investments in renewable energy, commitments to cage-free eggs and gestation crate-free pork, expansion of clean beauty offerings, and founding membership in the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) group all represent bright spots on its record.
However, for a company with a $75 billion market cap, over $100 billion in annual revenue, and a supply chain touching nearly every corner of the globe, incrementalism is not enough. As one of the largest retailers on the planet, Target has the scale, resources, and influence to drive truly transformative changes around some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our time — if only it will embrace this role.
For Target to evolve into a genuine corporate leader, it must aim higher and go bolder. This means:
- Fully aligning its emissions reductions targets with climate science and the urgency of the crisis, with at least a 50% reduction this decade
- Developing comprehensive ethical sourcing standards that cover ALL products and ALL species, with robust enforcement mechanisms and grievance policies
- Dramatically reducing the virgin materials in its products and packaging and scaling circular, reuse-based alternatives to the current linear take-make-waste model
- Closing the wage gap and providing family-sustaining compensation and benefits for ALL of its employees, not just those in flagship locations
- Establishing board and executive accountability for ESG goals with incentive structures tied to ethical and environmental performance, not just financial metrics
- Reckoning with the limits to unconstrained growth and exploring alternative business models based on services, sharing, and regeneration rather than the relentless push to sell more new stuff
As consumers, we have a vital role to play in pushing Target and other mega-retailers to be the change we wish to see. By voting with our wallets, using our voices, and supporting advocacy campaigns, we can hold these corporate giants accountable and create an economy that puts people and the planet first. Target may not be on the bullseye yet, but with enough pressure and resolve, I believe it can get there. The future of retail — and the future we all share — depends on it.
