Gap Inc. launches 2020 global sustainability report

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Sep 30, 2021

Gap Inc. launched on Wednesday its 2020 global sustainability report highlighting efforts that the company and each of its brands have made in 2020 towards sustainability and creating a more inclusive and fairer workplace.

Starting with Gap Inc., the company’s Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.) program, which provides women with foundational life skills, technical training and support to advance at work and in their lives, reached more than 804,000 women and girls in 2020, and is on track to meet the goal of reaching 1 million women and girls by 2022.

The company is on track to meet its goal of sourcing 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 for globally owned and operated facilities. It is also eliminating single-use plastics from its value chain, and supporting a circular economy to protect natural resources, as part of its efforts to becoming carbon neutral and water positive by 2050. Moreover, as of the end of fiscal year 2020, Gap Inc. has empowered 650,000 people to improve their access to water and sanitation, through the Usaid Gap Inc. Women + Water Alliance. 

Finally, in 2020, the company joined Textile Exchange’s 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge and became the first company to sign up to the new U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol. Gap Inc. is also currently partnering with other leaders in the industry as a signatory member of the Fashion Pact, to identify and pilot viable innovative alternatives to single-use plastic.

In terms of its brands, Old Navy announced additional sustainability goals, including a goal to reduce plastic waste across the supply chain and eliminate plastic shopping bags by 2023 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Additionally, the brand is committed to converting 60 percent of its traditional polyester into recycled polyester by 2025.

At Banana Republic, over 60 percent of the materials used in its 2020 Spring Collection are from sustainable sources, including denim styles that are designed and constructed with recyclability in mind. All the while, as a certified B Corp, Athleta enabled its climate ambitions when their solar farm in North Carolina came online earlier this year, which is intended to offset 100 percent of its operational footprint each year.

Finally, Gap continues its Gap For Good commitments, including saving water through the Washwell program. Ninety-one percent of Gap denim in 2020 was part of the water-saving Washwell program that has enabled Gap to save over 402 million liters of water since 2016.