Play powering progress – How collaboration is supporting innovative climate solutions

Last week, I attended the opening of European Energy’s new e-methanol factory in Kassø, Denmark – the world’s first large-scale commercial facility. This event was an important milestone, both for Denmark’s renewable energy ambitions and for the LEGO Group’s commitment to using more sustainable materials by 2032.

Standing alongside like-minded companies, I was truly inspired by the shared drive to take action and create lasting change. European Energy’s groundbreaking work with e-methanol is a critical step forward, and we’re proud to support this initiative alongside Novo Nordisk and Maersk.

Later this year, we’ll start using e-methanol from the factory to make ePOM – a more sustainable material that helps us create hard, durable LEGO® elements such as wheel axels, connectors and even our minifigure hands. Importantly, the innovative manufacturing approach allows us to maintain the same high standards of quality and safety. In fact, you won’t be able to tell the difference – and that’s the point. The LEGO play experience remains the same, while reducing our environmental impact.

E-methanol is just one part of our broader portfolio of sustainable materials. There’s no single solution to tackling climate change. It requires many solutions moving in parallel and evolving as technology advances. So far, we’ve tested more than 600 different materials.

Some of our products already use these sustainable alternatives, like Brazilian sugarcane for 200 of our flexible elements, recycled fishing nets and recycled engine oil to make some of our tyres, and artificial marble – commonly used in kitchens – for our transparent pieces. We’re pleased with our progress – nearly half of the materials purchased in 2024 were produced with sustainable sources. E-methanol will help us go even further in reducing our use of virgin fossil materials.

But we can’t solve these problems in isolation. Collaboration and partnerships like this are essential. By working across industries, we can accelerate innovation, scale meaningful solutions and set new industry standards that no company could achieve independently.

Children are our role models, and we’re committed to helping them inherit a healthy planet. That means embedding sustainability into everything we do — from the materials we source and how we operate our factories, to how we collaborate across industries to tackle climate change.

The Kassø factory is a powerful symbol of what’s possible when ambition meets action. And like any great LEGO creation, sustainable solutions like this are bigger and bolder when built together.