LEGO and WWF: Sustainable Manufacturing Meets Greener Play
LEGOâs push towards sustainable play starts not just with the finished product but deep within its manufacturing processes.
The companyâs Planet Promise Design Guidelines, developed in partnership with WWF Denmark, now embed climate thinking into the earliest design stages before the first brick is even made.
This shift aligns with LEGOâs wider commitment to ensure all its bricks are made from 100% sustainable materials by 2032.
The company is rethinking everything from how sets are imagined to how packaging is produced and how materials are sourced, tested and manufactured at scale.
Manufacturing with purpose
The new Planet Promise Design Guidelines target the work of over 600 LEGO designers, offering them structured tools to bring climate-conscious thinking into product creation.
These include the Planet Promise Design Principles, which focus on key areas like nature, community, energy and resources, and the Planet Promise Design Guides, which offer practical steps and design inspiration based on the types of play LEGO creates.
While they are creative by nature, these resources also tie directly into LEGO’s physical manufacturing goals. Bricks and packaging undergo thorough testing to explore how sustainable materials behave in production.
To date, the company has trialled more than 600 material types, pushing to reduce reliance on oil-based plastics and lower its carbon footprint.
âThe new guidelines will allow us to continue helping children imagine what the world could look like through our products, inspiring them to think creatively about the world they will inherit,â says Annette Stube, LEGOâs Chief Sustainability Officer.
To ensure these changes make a real impact, LEGO teams across the globe, from Billund to Boston, contribute to the process. A key stage in development involved the review of nearly 200 existing LEGO sets with WWF Denmark and global sustainability experts from the UK, US, China and Germany.
Louise Bontoft, LEGO’s Head of Design, explains: “We began by looking at nearly 200 existing LEGO products with WWF Denmark and their international experts. Their overall assessment of our current portfolio was positive, and the team's expertise and feedback were then instrumental in helping us define where we could improve and ensure the guidance we gave designers is robust, accessible and globally relevant.”
Connecting product to planet
Since 2014, LEGO and WWF Denmark have worked together on the environmental impact of materials and operations. Now, with this latest initiative, the focus stretches even further into product storytelling and how sets reflect real-world issues.
“We’ve been helping kids make sense of the world around them for generations, so this is a natural development,” says Louise. “Play is an incredibly powerful tool for engaging children and we know children are deeply aware of the environmental challenges we face. That's why you’ve seen elements like recycling trucks, wind turbines and EV charging points featured in our products for many years, going back to at least 1987.”
On LEGO’s production lines, this means a clearer steer on which products should reflect which values.
If a set is being developed around urban life, for instance, it may now include public transport, low-energy infrastructure or community-focused spaces. If it’s based on adventure or exploration, it may highlight conservation or habitat restoration. This focus helps align design, storytelling and manufacturing output in practical, measurable ways.
Jacob Fjalland, Interdisciplinary Director at WWF Denmark, sees this as an essential connection: “We are delighted to partner with the LEGO Group on this new set of guidance to inspire and engage children around the world and make room for curiosity on nature and climate matters... helping to shape a generation of optimistic and proactive young individuals.”
Learning through making
The new guidelines will first apply to LEGO-owned themes but the ambition stretches further. As production shifts towards materials that are recycled, renewable and easier to reuse, the design system ensures that new products align with the company’s environmental goals from the outset.
For LEGO, this partnership and strategy reflect more than environmentally-friendly packaging or sustainable bricks.
Instead, it means influencing what children build, how they think and what lessons they absorb through play. This sentiment stems from LEGO’s own research, which shows 94% of parents believe play helps children learn about sustainability, while 83% of children aged 5–12 say they care about protecting the environment.
Tobias Emme Høgsberg, WWF Denmark’s Director of Engagement, sums it up: “WWF works towards a nature positive world and in relation to kids, this means encouraging play and stories that show restoring forests, protecting animals and cleaning up oceans, as well as teaching kids that they can be heroes for the planet and make choices that help nature grow.”
