Brick-by-brick for a greener tomorrow: The LEGO(R) Group reaffirms its commitment to environment stewardship

It is becoming increasingly imperative for brands to be environmentally conscious and help consumers take small sustainable steps to make the biggest difference. Companies must address the gap between knowing and doing by embracing sustainable business practices.
At the LEGO® Group, we know that children are looking to us to do what’s right. They are holding us to account, and we must set ambitious goals and take meaningful and lasting actions to protect their futures. We aim to minimise our environmental footprint by promoting a business model where products never become waste.

To reduce the environmental impact of all parts of our business, we are currently working on a broad range of initiatives which include transitioning to more sustainable raw materials, using more sustainable packaging and making our business more circular. Sustainable Packaging We have an ambition to make our packaging more sustainable. This means introducing recyclable packaging across all areas of our business from our core products to licensed products produced by our partners. Currently, 93% of our packaging by weight is made from paper, cardboard and other paper-based materials. A large majority of our packaging will be without single-use plastic by the end of 2025.

As we need to consider the timeline of our capacity expansions, the full transition will be completed in 2026. Zero Waste LEGO® bricks are built to last. New elements made today fit perfectly with the first LEGO® bricks produced over 60 years ago. This ensures that bricks can be handed down through generations. The quality and durability come from our strict safety process for every new element. We simulate things like children biting, dropping, and stepping on LEGO elements to ensure they don’t break.

Using sustainable material Reducing CO2 in our supply chain is also about finding more sustainable materials for our products and packaging, without compromising on quality or safety. This means we need to innovate existing materials that are safe and strong enough to be passed down through generations. We are working hard to find solutions to make our products from more sustainable materials by 2032 and have tested more than 300 different materials. We are using materials like bio-polyethylene (bio-PE) which is derived from sugarcane, and arMABS to create some of the LEGO® bricks and elements. We’re also significantly increasing investment in certified recycled and renewable raw materials using the mass-balance approach, as well as
exploring plastics made from alternative sources such as e-methanol for plastic production.

Reducing our emissions As a business, we are working hard to reduce emissions across our full value chain. We reduced absolute  emissions across our manufacturing sites, stores and offices by increasing production of renewable energy in our factories and buying renewable energy for factories, offices and stores. In 2020, we were the first large toy company to announce a science-based emissions reduction target to reduce our absolute GHG emissions by 37% by 2032, against a 2019 baseline, and in August 2023, we pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. To keep ourselves on track, we have introduced an annual KPI to reward colleagues for contributing to our reduction targets. Beyond this activity, the company will also continue to invest in
initiatives to reduce carbon globally that may not count towards achieving the SBTi-approved target at this stage. This includes exploring compensation actions, such as supporting carbon capture programmes and scaling up a mass balance approach to reduce reliance on fossil fuels as a raw material.

Partnership with WWF Since 2014, we have been part of the Climate Savers program, WWF’s global platform that engages business and industry on climate and energy. The program intends to inspire a change in the way companies think about climate solutions. Together with WWF, we have set ambitious targets to ensure more sustainable means of producing LEGO® play experiences. Targets already met include balancing 100% of energy use with renewable sources by investing DKK 6 billion (approx. USD 1 billion) in two offshore wind farms; research and development into sustainable materials to make LEGO bricks and improving the energy
efficiency of producing LEGO bricks by more than 12% per brick. Choosing our suppliers
We review social and environmental criteria when choosing new suppliers, including whether they monitor and report on their GHG emissions. To ensure that we are working towards the same goals as our suppliers, both new and old, we have also introduced sustainability into our supplier review process and require our highest-impact suppliers to participate in our Engage-to-Reduce program.

At the LEGO Group, we are playing our part in building a sustainable future and creating a better world for children to inherit. We are more committed than ever to making our products and business more sustainable.