Target Corporation sustainability score: 32/100
Target is a US general merchandise retailer serving mass-market customers through owned and national brands across apparel, household goods, food and consumables. Incorporated in Minnesota in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, it had about 415,000 employees and $104.8 billion in FY2025 revenue.
Founded 1902Head office Minneapolis, Minnesota, USStaff ~415,000 (FY2025)Revenue $104,780M revenue (FY2025)Website ↗
Target cut market-based Scope 1 and 2 emissions 67.9% from 2017, mostly through renewable electricity certificates, but Scope 3 fell only from 59.6 to 55.7 Mt and its assurance covers only business air travel. In 2026 it moved its net-zero date from 2040 to 2050 and its Scope 3 goal to 2035, missed its packaging goals, and belongs to trade groups that oppose climate policy.
Target Corporation scores 32/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Companies can never pay for anything about their own score. Last verified October 2026.
That places Target Corporation joint 620th of 934 companies scored, and joint 36th of 50 in Retail (non-fashion).
What is Target Corporation doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain (8/10, 7/10). Weakest on Resource Use & Waste and Water Impact (4/10, 4/10).
Where Target Corporation lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations8/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain7/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling6/10No consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature5/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste4/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets4/10Its targets aren't science-based or committed to the Science Based Targets initiative.
- How openly it reports6/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
- Its record on controversies5/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Target Corporation's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Target Corporation's score changed?
Target Corporation's score has moved from 34 to 32 across 3 recorded reviews, down 2 points.
- 32 → 3219 October 2026
Fortune 50 re-score (owner-approved batch 3, 2026-10-19)
- 34 → 32-217 October 2026
correction: re-sourced 2026-10-17 (live records failing current gates). Re-scored under v2.5.14 from the 10-K and the 2026 Sustainability and Governance Report; aggregator citation removed.. History gap: the last recorded row is 34 (2026-04-04, initial_score), but the live score before this change was 29 (previousScore 34). The intermediate change(s) were not recorded at the time and are not reconstructed here.
- Scored 344 April 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Target Corporation's score based on?
15 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
33% of them were published by Target Corporation itself; the rest come from independent sources.
10 of 15 sources are independent of the company.
“Gross quantity of direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions (mtCO 2 e) 811,489 867,450 818,148”
“Optera has been engaged to provide independent limited assurance on the greenhouse gas (GHG)”
“Target measures and reports GHG emissions data each year in accordance with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and World Resources Institute's GHG Protocol.”
“make up 98.5 percent of the company’s footprint”
“88% diversion of operational waste from landfill from our 2017 baseline”
“41pc of its owned-brand packaging met the retailer's circularity criteria in fiscal year 2025, unchanged from 2024”
“ultimately meeting that threshold for just 41% of packaging”
“in line with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations”
“As of 2024, 78% of eligible items conformed to the forest product policy across all of Target’s owned brands”
“We have modified and concluded, and may continue to modify and conclude, certain of these goals and initiatives from time to time.”
“Target is holding back government climate action through its money and influence”
“the federal district court in Minnesota denied Target Corp.'s motion to dismiss a consumer-fraud action”
“Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations”
“Target's longtime membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, known for its efforts to obstruct climate regulation, raises concerns.”
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How does Target Corporation compare with other retail (non-fashion) companies?
Where Target Corporation sits among retail (non-fashion) peers.
Among the 50 major retail (non-fashion) brands we've scored, Target Corporation is tied =36th of 50, with 2 others.
Who scores higher in Retail (non-fashion)?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Target Corporation.
Boots says its footprint was 1.14 million tCO2e in 2025 across Boots UK, Ireland, Opticians and No7, down from 1.22 million t in 2022, and that this includes the products it buys and sells; it publishes no breakdown, so SINK treats its supply-chain figure as partial and the size deduction (0.70x) applies.
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See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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