Niels Christiansen

Few executives are likely to receive as many letters and emails from children as Niels Christiansen, CEO of LEGO. In recent years, a lot of those letters have had a similar theme: “Many kids are concerned about the environment,” Christiansen says. Of course, there may be no greater threat to the environment right now than the continued use of fossil fuels like oil—a key component in LEGO’s iconic plastic toy bricks. But perhaps not for much longer. 

This year, Christiansen announced the company has started making bricks from a new kind of plastic composed partially of renewable or recycled materials such as used cooking oil. “Partially” because right now, this renewable resin is in short supply, and LEGO can only get its hands on so much of it until producers make more. “This is kind of like the hen and the egg,” Christiansen explains. “Nobody wants to invest before somebody wants to buy it, and nobody wants to buy it before the price has come down because somebody else invested.” LEGO wants to be that somebody. The company is paying up to 60% more for this greener plastic than it would for the purely fossil fuel-based alternative in hopes of stimulating demand and jumpstarting the market. If it succeeds, this effort could pave the way for other companies that rely on plastic products to wean themselves off fossil fuels, too. 

LEGO can afford to do this thanks to its soaring profits: Under Christiansen’s leadership, LEGO over the past five years has expanded its digital footprint, inked a lucrative partnership with Epic Games, and doubled its storefronts. Operating profit in the first half of 2024 was up 26%, even while the toy industry as a whole declined. “We've been able to take a lot of market share,” Christiansen says. “That has allowed us to grow the company, and therefore also really build a strong financial position that allows us to invest heavily behind sustainability.” 

Not every such investment has paid off. Last year, LEGO had to abandon a high-profile initiative to recycle plastic bottles into bricks after it became clear the process was actually going to increase the company’s emissions. But Christiansen is confident in this new approach. As the market for renewable plastic feedstocks matures, he says, LEGO will be able to buy more of it, aiming to produce a fossil fuel-free brick by 2032. “The more we can engage now with the suppliers in making this type of material, and do the investments and production volume behind that, the more sure I become that we will actually get there,” he says. 

In the first half of 2024, LEGO increased the renewable materials used in its products by 83% compared to 2023. It also decoupled company growth from its use of fossil-fuel-based materials for the first time in its 92-year history. “Lego play is super important,” Christiansen says, “but it cannot come at the expense of the world. And when you serve kids, you want to make sure the planet they inherit is an even better planet, and one that lasts for a long time.”

Correction, Nov. 12:
The original version of this story misstated what Lego decoupled from its growth in 2024. It was the use of fossil-fuel-based materials, not emissions.