LEGO promises it is still locked in on long-term environmental and diversity goals
While a host of U.S. companies in the Trump era are backing away from or going quiet on ESG and DEI initiatives touted in the past, the Danish toy manufacturer admitted it has struggles but is not relenting in building the foundation for dramatic emissions reduction and sustainable supply chains, brick by interlocking brick.
In fact, the company nearly tripled spending on sustainability spending last year compared with 2022, LEGO Group CEO Niels Christiansen wrote in a corporate statement this past week. Nearly half of the materials purchased to make LEGO’s famous bricks last year were certified “mass balance”—an international standard on sustainable, traceable supply chains, the CEO noted.
With that, LEGO reported that about one-third of raw materials utilized last year were made up of renewable resources, which is double the portion in 2023, according to the report. These include newly introduced elements such as materials containing 20% artificial marble kitchen worktops.
LEGO Group has promised to increase sustainability investments to US$1.4 billion over three years. The emissions goal is to reduce total greenhouse gases (GHG) 37% by 2032.
Christiansen admitted this is proving a formidable challenge. LEGO’s sustainability performance data indicates that electricity consumption and carbon emissions rose in 2024 compared with the year earlier.
“As the vast majority of our GHG emissions result from activities which lie outside our direct operations, we launched our new Supplier Sustainability Programme dedicated to helping partners decrease the emissions in their supply chain,” Christiansen wrote in the LEGO sustainability update. “Fifty-two suppliers, representing over 50% of our scope 3 GHG emissions, have committed to reach the reduction targets we have set for 2026 and 2028. We will continue to expand this program in the years to come.”
LEGO says that 30% of its packing lines have been converted to paper-based packaging across company factories globally.
Water consumption by factories have fallen three straight years, LEGO says. The toymaker’s new water treatment facility in Mexico has helped saved nearly 85,100 cubic meters of fresh water compared with previous consumption, according to the report.
LEGO has announced and broke ground on "carbon-neutral factories" in Virginia and Vietnam in recent years.
LEGO CEO Christiansen says the company remains committed to the UN Global Compact on sustainability which it joined 22 years ago.
“We must all take responsibility to resolve the environmental challenges we're facing,” he wrote. “As a company beloved by children globally, we consider it vital to secure a safe future for the next generation.”
The LEGO Group was founded as a construction toy company in 1932 to make wooden pieces. The Danish firm shifted to manufacturing interlocking plastic bricks in the late 1940s.
Last week, LEGO reported fiscal year 2024 operating profit increased 10% and net profit by 5% over 2023. The full-year revenue topped 74.3 billion Danish kroner, equivalent to US$10.858 billion.
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