• LEGO adds DKK 18 million ($2.6 million) to carbon removal portfolio, bringing total commitment to DKK 54 million ($7.9 million).
• Portfolio spans nature based restoration in Mexico and three emerging technology based carbon removal pathways.
• Strategy prioritises operational emissions cuts while testing high quality removals to inform long-term climate governance and investment decisions.

The LEGO Group is widening its carbon removal portfolio with an additional DKK 18 million ($2.6 million) investment across four projects, deepening its engagement with both nature based and engineered carbon removal solutions.

The move brings the company’s total carbon removal commitment to DKK 54 million ($7.9 million) and builds on initiatives launched in 2024. The programme is delivered in partnership with Climate Impact Partners and ClimeFi, reflecting a deliberate strategy to test a range of durability profiles and methodologies while global standards for removals continue to evolve.

Annette Stube, Chief Sustainability Officer at the LEGO Group, said: “This purchase highlights our commitment to testing a broad range of credible pathways for nature and tech-based carbon removal. As the programme expands, it is helping to strengthen our understanding of different approaches and inform future decision-making on how carbon removal may complement our wider climate goals. While reducing emissions in our own operations remains our priority, this programme allows us to work with expert partners and contribute to solutions that may help scale effective climate action over time.”

For executives and investors, the emphasis is clear. Carbon removal is positioned as complementary, not substitutive, to operational decarbonisation. The company is effectively running a live pilot portfolio to assess quality, permanence, scalability, and governance risk across different removal classes.

Nature Based Restoration in Mexico

Part of the expanded portfolio strengthens support for large scale reforestation in Quintana Roo State, Mexico, delivered with Climate Impact Partners. The region is strategically relevant. LEGO operates a manufacturing site in Mexico, aligning carbon removal activity with jurisdictions where it has a physical presence and stakeholder exposure.

The Quintana Roo Restoration project, developed by Canopia Carbon, restores more than 14,000 hectares of degraded tropical forest. Activities include tree planting, species recovery, fire prevention, community management programmes and long-term monitoring.

More than 20 percent of the project budget is allocated to local employment and income generation. Beyond carbon sequestration, the initiative contributes to biodiversity protection and social development, a factor increasingly scrutinised by regulators and investors assessing co-benefits and community safeguards.

Sheri Hickok, CEO at Climate Impact Partners, said: “We are proud to continue our partnership with the LEGO Group, delivering high quality carbon projects that drive meaningful outcomes for climate, biodiversity and communities. The LEGO Group’s approach highlights how companies can partner with experts to build robust, credible climate strategies that translate ambition into action.”

For boards navigating disclosure regimes such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and emerging ISSB standards, the integration of social and biodiversity outcomes alongside carbon accounting is becoming central to risk management and reputational resilience.

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Scaling Emerging Carbon Removal Technologies

Alongside nature based solutions, LEGO is expanding its technology-based portfolio through three new projects with ClimeFi. Each represents a distinct approach to durable carbon storage.

The first involves biomass geological storage, using slurry injection technology to place carbon rich organic waste deep underground. The second uses mineralisation processes to convert CO₂ into manufactured limestone through reactive waste materials, producing building inputs while locking carbon in solid form. The third applies marine carbon dioxide removal through wastewater alkalinity enhancement, transforming organic carbon into inorganic carbon for long-term ocean storage.

These pathways vary in permanence, scalability, and regulatory oversight. By allocating capital across multiple methodologies, LEGO is hedging technological and policy uncertainty in a nascent market where quality benchmarks and certification frameworks remain under development.

Paolo Piffaretti, CEO and Co-Founder at ClimeFi, said: “We are pleased to grow our partnership with the LEGO Group through these latest carbon removal initiatives. By working together, we are supporting the commitments required to scale the industry and accelerate real climate progress.”

Strategic Takeaways for Executives and Investors

No single carbon removal pathway currently offers a silver bullet. LEGO’s diversified approach reflects a broader corporate shift toward portfolio thinking in climate strategy. Companies are balancing internal emissions reductions with selective external removals, while regulators sharpen scrutiny around integrity and additionality.

For capital markets, the signal is pragmatic rather than symbolic. Early participation allows corporates to influence standards, secure supply in a tightening removal market, and build institutional knowledge before compliance regimes potentially harden.

As governments debate the role of removals in national net zero plans and voluntary carbon markets face consolidation, corporate experimentation will help determine which technologies scale and which fall away.

For a company whose brand is built around the future of children, the climate calculus extends beyond short term optics. The question for global leaders is no longer whether to engage with carbon removal, but how to do so with discipline, transparency, and alignment to long-term climate governance.

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