The LEGO Group signs long-term agreement for Climeworks’ permanent carbon removal services

· $2.4 million agreement is latest in broad portfolio of initiatives designed to achieve net-zero carbon ambition.
· KIRKBI A/S also signs $405,000 long-term agreement with Climeworks to help scale high-quality durable carbon removals.

BILLUND, DENMARK, March 26, 2024: As part of a commitment to reduce its environmental impact and build a sustainable future for children, the LEGO Group has entered a $2.4 million agreement with pioneering high-quality carbon-removal company Climeworks, as it continues to utilise a broad portfolio of initiatives to progress towards net-zero carbon emissions.

The agreement is for the permanent removal of hard-to-abate CO₂ emissions from the air with Climeworks’ direct air capture and storage (DAC+S) solution and is designed to help Climeworks accelerate its technology scale up. KIRKBI, the family-owned holding and investment company of the LEGO® brand, has also signed a $405,000 long-term agreement to procure Climeworks’ DAC+S carbon removal services.

Reduce and remove CO2
With a focus on the permanent removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, Climeworks’ DAC+S solution can play an important role in achieving net-zero carbon emissions. In 2023, the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that the use of “carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be necessary to achieve net negative CO2 emissions”(1). The LEGO Group takes CO₂ emissions into account across all areas of its business and the 9-year (2023-2032) agreement means DAC+S will be one of a suite of initiatives designed to help the company achieve its net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050.

The LEGO Group’s key priority for GHG emissions remains reducing the impact of its factories, offices and stores, and supply chain. It has a SBTi (2) approved target to reduce absolute GHG emissions (Scope 1, 2 & 3) by 37 percent by 2032 (vs. a 2019 baseline) and its initiatives focus on designing buildings to run on energy from renewable sources, emphasising energy efficiency and engaging with suppliers to lower their carbon footprint. For example, the company increased its solar capacity by 16 percent to 15.6 MWp in 2023 and plans to further increase capacity this year. New sites, currently being built in Vietnam and the USA, are reviewing plans to include renewables that comply with both site and local government requirements (3).

Drive systemic change
In 2023 the LEGO Group increased spending on environmental initiatives by 60 percent vs. 2022, and by 2025 plans to have doubled its annual spend compared to 2023 (4). While the priority remains to measurably reduce the GHG emissions created from making and selling LEGO® bricks, innovations beyond the value chain will play a valuable role in accelerating progress.

Annette Stube, Chief Sustainability Officer at the LEGO Group, commented: “We want children to inherit a healthy planet – and we’re determined to play our part in making that happen. To succeed we must take action to drive systemic change.

“We were the first large toy company to announce a science-based emissions reduction target in 2020 and we want to continue to lead the way in finding innovative solutions for the challenges we face. This is why we are working with innovators like Climeworks – their technology, as part of a varied programme of initiatives, can help us and society as a whole realise the net-zero future that is needed to protect our planet for generations to come”.

New Climeworks facility in Iceland
Climeworks opened the world’s first and largest DAC+S commercial plant, called Orca, in Iceland in 2021 to capture CO₂ from the air and store it directly underground. The process involves the air being drawn into large collector containers where the CO₂ is captured through a filter. The collected CO₂ is then stored deep underground by Climeworks’ storage partner Carbfix, where it is injected deep into the ground and transformed into stone through an accelerated natural process. The filtered air is released back into the atmosphere.

In 2022, Climeworks announced it would build a second plant in Iceland. The site, called Mammoth, is due to open in May 2024 and will be Climeworks’ largest direct air capture and storage plant, capable of a nominal CO₂ capture capacity of up to 36,000 tons per year when fully operational. The heat and electricity required to run the process is supplied by the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant located in Iceland(5).

Jan Huckfeldt, Chief Commercial Officer at Climeworks, commented: “We’re proud to partner with a sustainability leader like the LEGO Group who takes bold steps to make net zero happen. We see demand growing across diverse sectors, including consumer goods, which shows that carbon removal rightly has a place in every company’s net zero strategy.”

The LEGO Group plans to continue investing in high-quality and durable CO₂ removals as part of its broad net-zero programme.

Materials for LEGO Bricks
Alongside carbon reductions and removals initiatives, the LEGO Group is working to find solutions to make its products from more sustainable materials. This includes increasing its use of material that has been certified according to mass balance principles. In 2023, 18 percent of all resin purchased was certified according to mass balance principles, which translates into an estimated average of 12 percent renewable sources. The plan is to significantly increase this percentage in 2024 and beyond (6).