As part of our UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals activation at Licensing Expo 2025, we are showcasing our members and partners that are embodying various SDGs through they work they have done or are doing.
For Sustainable Development Goal 4, we have chosen to showcase the LEGO Group. SDG 4 represents Quality Education, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
“Education liberates the intellect, unlocks the imagination and is fundamental for self-respect. It is the key to prosperity and opens a world of opportunities, making it possible for each of us to contribute to a progressive, healthy society. Learning benefits every human being and should be available to all.” – The Global Goals.
Within SDG 4, the UN has set a number of targets to take us along the path to achieving Quality Education, which include:
- Free primary and secondary education;
- Equal access to quality pre-primary education;
- Equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education;
- Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success;
- Eliminate all discrimination in education;
- Universal literacy and numeracy;
- Education for sustainable development and citizenship;
- Build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools;
- Expand higher education scholarships for developing countries;
- Increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries.
LEGO has been embodying SDG 4 through its Build the Change programme, a global non-profit sustainability education programme funded by the LEGO Foundation which engages children with real-world sustainability challenges and gives them a voice by allowing them to express their hopes and ideas for a better future through play.
Children use their creativity to solve real-world social and environmental challenges, such as protecting animals and designed places for people, with LEGO bricks and other creative materials. LEGO offers free resource packs to help adult facilitators run Build the Change workshops, including videos, presentations, speakers’ notes, and printables.
In March 2024, the United Nations set a date for the first ever International Day of Play supported by LEGO. For this year’s World Play Day on 11 June, LEGO is inviting children to imagine and build playful cities, in partnership with design, engineering and sustainability company, Arup, with inspiring ideas to be shared with decision makers and city planners.
LEGO’s Build the Change programme also brought it together in a partnership with another POC Member, the Natural History Museum, to run workshops for the children at the museum, exploring creative ideas of how to protect today’s dinosaurs: birds.
Providing opportunities for children to learn about real-world challenges, particularly in sustainability, and engage with them in a meaningful way, aligns this work with SDG 4 and unlocks children’s imaginations and problem-solving for a future they can change and build.
