LEGO continues to chip away at sustainable brick goal

LEGO used 33% “renewable” sources as raw materials in its bricks in 2024 and continues to test virgin plastic alternatives to make its products.

The toymaker has tested 600 different materials to make its bricks and elements in a more sustainable way, but warns in its latest sustainability report that the path ahead remains complex – in particular for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) alternatives.

ABS make up around 85% of the resin used in LEGO bricks, and although the company is testing “a number of recycled and renewable solutions” – included recycled PET, an option which was discarded in 2023 – none of them are available at scale yet.

In the interim, LEGO is using the mass balance principle to replace some of the virgin petroleum-based oil in ABS with cooking or plant oil. In 2024, 47% of the resin it purchased was certified mass balance, which translates to an estimated average of 33% non-virgin oil sources – more than double the share in 2023. 

Additionally 3% of the materials LEGO used to make products came from segregated sustainable sources.

LEGO’s green investments up 68%

In order to meet its goal of reducing GHG emissions by 37% by 2032 (from a 2019 baseline), LEGO increased investment in environmental sustainability by 68% last year – and nearly tripled it since 2022.

Investments primarily go into renewable energy projects and research and development around sustainable materials.

“We hope this will help accelerate the industry’s transition to more sustainable, high-quality materials and create a shift away from a reliance on virgin fossil fuels,” said CEO Niels B. Christiansen.

Scope 1 and 2 emissions on the rise

The company’s 2024 sustainability report shows that Scope 1 and 2 emissions rose last year, from 119,089 tonnes of CO2 equivalent to 144,358 – a 21.2% increase.

LEGO notes that this is the result of higher than expected growth in consumer sales (12%). 

“Our biggest challenge remains to decouple our growth from our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” added Christiansen. “We recognise the need to go further to reach our goal of reducing GHG emissions by 37% by 2032 (compared to a 2019 baseline), and we continue to look for improvements in our own operations, including investing in more renewable energy.”