Children help LEGO write handbook on saving planet for COP26

In a brilliant marketing move consistent with listening to its customers, LEGO has issued a handbook to save the world. It will publish just in time for the COP26 climate summit starting in Glasgow on Sunday.

Tim Brooks, LEGO’s vice-president of environmental responsibility, said the project intends to “give children a voice” at COP26. “Children are demanding that they and future generations are front of mind when it comes to creating policy,” Brooks said, as reported by The Guardian.

Related: LEGO responds to kids’ worries about single-use plastics

To devise the plan to save Earth, LEGO involved more than 6,000 children, aged between 8 and 18, from all over the world. The children told researchers that global warming was their top concern. One in ten reported thinking about the environment every day, while about half considered environmental problems weekly.

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The handbook, designed to look like a LEGO instruction booklet, boiled down the children’s input into 10 action steps: reduce pollution and waste; protect nature; change laws; stop ignoring the problem: do more; educate people; reduce emissions; leaders, change your own behavior; invest in the environment; help people and future generations. Colorful illustrations accompany the actions. The handbooks will be distributed to delegates at the climate talks, and hopefully, they will take the children’s suggestions to heart.

LEGO has already demonstrated its commitment to a greener future. The company employs more than 150 people to devise sustainability projects, has pledged to reduce carbon emissions 37% by 2032 and is investing $400 million over three years on green initiatives. LEGO recently introduced its first bricks molded from PET plastic from recycled bottles. According to Brooks, the company receives a thousand letters annually from kids, both praising and criticizing LEGO. The children’s input has influenced LEGO to eliminate single-use plastic and continue improving its recycled bricks.

Via The Guardian

Lead image via LEGO