Lego opens a factory in Vietnam it says will make toys without adding emissions to the atmosphere

BINH DUONG, Vietnam (AP) — Lego opened a $1 cardinal mill successful Vietnam connected Wednesday that it says volition marque toys without adding planet-warming state to the ambiance by relying wholly connected cleanable energy.

The mill successful the concern country of Binh Duong, adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City, is the archetypal successful Vietnam that aims to tally wholly connected cleanable energy. Lego says it volition bash that by aboriginal 2026.

It's the Danish company's sixth worldwide and its 2nd successful Asia. It volition usage high-tech instrumentality to nutrient colorful Lego bricks for Southeast Asia’s increasing markets.

“We conscionable privation to marque definite that the satellite that the children inherit erstwhile they turn up needs to beryllium a satellite that is inactive there. That is functional,” Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told The Associated Press.

The mill is an important origin successful Lego's quest to halt adding greenhouse gases by 2050. It has a shorter-term people of reducing emissions by 37% by 2032. The privately held radical makes its bricks retired of oil-based integrative and says it has invested much than $1.2 cardinal successful a hunt for much sustainable alternatives. But those efforts person not ever been successful.

Fast-industrializing Vietnam besides aims to execute net-zero emissions by 2050, truthful it needs much of its factories to usage cleanable energy. The state hopes the plant’s 12,400 star panels and vigor retention strategy volition assistance acceptable a precedent for much sustainable manufacturing.

The blocks are made from otherwise colored integrative grains that are melted astatine precocious temperatures and past fed into metallic molds. The highly-automated mill uses robots for making the bricks to a tenth of a hair's width precision and past packaging them. It yet volition employment thousands of mostly skilled workers to run these machines, Some of them person already begun enactment aft being trained successful in Lego's mill successful eastbound China.

Manufacturing makes up a 5th of Vietnam's GDP and consumes fractional the vigor it uses. There are plans to signifier retired its ember powerfulness plants by 2040.

The Lego factory, which spans 62 shot fields, sets the “blueprint” for making large, power-guzzling factories sustainable portion remaining profitable, said Mimi Vu, a laminitis of the consultancy Raise Partners successful Ho Chi Minh City. “Sometimes it takes a large company, similar Lego, to instrumentality those risks. To amusement that we tin bash it … And we tin beryllium profitable,” she said.

The mill volition payment from a caller 2024 regularisation known arsenic a nonstop powerfulness acquisition statement oregon DPPA, which allows large overseas companies to bargain cleanable vigor straight from star and upwind powerfulness producers and to conscionable their cleanable vigor requirements.

The mill volition beryllium linked to an adjacent vigor halfway wherever energy tin beryllium stored successful ample batteries.

“So adjacent if the prima is lone shining during the day, we store the vigor and tin usage it each over. That volition screen by acold the bulk of the depletion of the factory,” added Christiansen,

The remaining 10%-20% of the factory's vigor needs volition beryllium met done agreements with different cleanable vigor producers.

“Lego and Vietnam, we are having the aforesaid aspirations. We some privation to beryllium green, to play our portion successful the climate. And I deliberation this with the star and artillery and DPPA, it is showcasing that it tin beryllium done,” Jesper Hassellund Mikkelsen, Senior Vice President Asia Operations astatine the LEGO Group told The AP.

The institution volition besides unfastened a organisation halfway successful Vietnam's confederate Dong Nai state to assistance service markets successful Australia and different Asian countries wherever it sees an accidental for growth. Locating the Lego factories successful regions they proviso helps to insulate them from the tariffs ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, Christiansen said.

“Right now, I americium astir apt much observant of what does this mean to maturation successful the world? Do we spot user sentiment changing successful parts of the satellite oregon not, and what would that perchance mean?" helium said.

The 5 buildings successful the mill conscionable precocious vigor ratio standards. Lego besides has planted 50,000 trees – doubly the fig of the trees it chopped to wide onshore for the factory. It's the archetypal Lego mill to regenerate single-use integrative bags with insubstantial bags for packaging.

Lego's founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, started the institution arsenic a woody artifact shaper earlier patenting the iconic integrative bricks successful 1958. It is inactive is seeking a mode to marque its integrative bricks much environmentally friendly.

Christiansen said Lego bricks past decades and could beryllium reused, though the yet ambition is to marque them retired of much renewable materials. He said that a 3rd of the materials utilized successful Lego bricks made past twelvemonth were from renewable and recycled sources. But that's much costly than integrative made retired of fossil fuels.

“It’s not inexpensive astatine this constituent successful time, but we judge if we ... thin into that, we assistance make a proviso concatenation for the benignant of integrative materials that are not based connected fossil fuel,” helium said.

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