Lego promotes sustainability. However, the owners of the parent company behave differently. You often fly by private jet, even on the shortest routes.
The heirs to the Lego empire are heavily criticized in Denmark. A Falcon 8X aircraft belonging to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen and his children Sofie, Thomas and Agnete is said to have flown the route between Billund and Odense 57 times between 2020 and 2023 – a distance of around 100 kilometers. This is what research by Danish radio shows.
The family owns a total of three private jets, which were used at least 1,059 times from 2020 to 2023. It is not known whether the aircraft were also used by other people. However, it turned out that the planes between Billund and Odense often flew without passengers to pick up the family and then take them to holiday destinations such as Málaga and Ibiza.
The family and Lego itself, however, repeatedly emphasize their efforts towards sustainability. Lego says it already produces some of its clamping building blocks from recycled or renewable materials. The website says: “We leave no stone unturned to make our products more sustainable.”
The family’s Kirkbi Holding generated a profit of 11.3 billion crowns (around 1.5 billion euros) in 2023, which was mainly achieved through Lego. Around 3.8 billion crowns came from shareholdings and investments – including in companies that are active in the area of sustainability. The family holding is involved in various projects that rely on solar panels and plastic recycling.
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is the third generation Lego heir and took over the management of the company at the end of the 1970s. Last year, his son Thomas finally replaced him as chairman.