Creative solutions to phase out natural gas in LEGO factories

At the LEGO Group, we want to help build a sustainable future for children. As part of this, we are taking steps to reduce our carbon emissions, finding innovative and local solutions to make our production sites more efficient and increasing the use of renewable energy. This ambition is part of our ‘Zero Impact in Operations’ goal, looking for improvements in our own operations, with focus on reducing our scope 1 and 2 emissions.

One important step is phasing out our use of natural gas in production sites. In 2023, emissions from natural gas use alone represented 16,000 tonnes CO₂e. Historically we have used natural gas to heat our factories, so finding alternative sources of heat has been a key part of solving our emissions reduction challenge.

Local, tailored solutions towards a global goal

Each LEGO factory faces different energy challenges, so we are exploring solutions tailored to local sites.

At our factory in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, we’re exploring how geothermal energy can replace natural gas for heating. Over the past two years, we’ve drilled two wells more than two kilometres below the surface and discovered a promising heat source —water with a temperature of 84°C. In the coming two years, we’ll install the infrastructure and technology needed to circulate this hot water through the factory. The system will operate as a closed loop, with the extracted water pumped back into the ground near its original source. Once fully operational in 2028, this solution is expected to eliminate the factory’s reliance on natural gas for heating completely.

In Billund, Denmark, we have successfully reduced natural gas use by switching to district heating, which itself ran on 92% renewable energy last year. In 2024, we completed the transition of 11 buildings, resulting in saving 1,064 tCO2e per year.

At our factory in Jiaxing, China, a new system was installed in 2024 to capture and reuse heat from chillers, cutting natural gas consumption by 50%. This has been so successful that it is now being extended to other parts of the factory, with the aim to completely phase-out natural gas.

Building a more sustainable future for children

These projects are important milestones on our journey to reduce our operational emissions, and we will continue looking for new and innovative ways to lower our environmental footprint and make our factories more sustainable.

Read more:
• Our work to reduce our emissions.
• Expansion of our factory in Hungary.