Lego Group, the world’s biggest toymaker, has broken ground on its first carbon-neutral factory worldwide in southern Vietnam.

Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh attended the ceremony on November 3 in Binh Duong province, around 50 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City.

Lego will pour more than US$1 billion into the 44-hectare complex, including investments in solar energy generation. It is so far the biggest investment by a Danish company in the country.

The project will create about 4,000 jobs over the next 15 years. Production is expected to start in 2024.

“Today marks a significant milestone for our first carbon-neutral facility, and our sixth manufacturing site,” Lego Group chief executive officer Niels Christiansen says, adding that it will be the company’s second in Asia.

The complex at the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park 3 will help the Danish firm expand its global supply chain network, with factories located close to its major markets.

The facility will feature solar panels on its roofs and VSIP Group, the developer of the industrial park, will build a nearby solar farm on behalf of Lego. Combined, the two solar systems will meet 100% of the factory’s annual energy requirements.

VSIP Group, a joint venture between Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries and Binh Duong-based Becamex, a Vietnamese industrial developer. Lego and VSIP are also planting about 50,000 trees across the country to compensate for vegetation removed during the plant construction.

Sembcorp on October 17 received an investment licence to develop a new industrial park covering 294 hectares in Can Tho City, the first VSIP park in the Mekong Delta. Can Tho is a Class 1 city on par with Hai Phong in the north and Danang in the central region, just second to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s two largest.