The building industry is responsible for a significant share of global CO₂ emissions. Reducing the climate impact of building materials is therefore essential to enable a more sustainable construction sector.

At the same time, increasing regulatory requirements are pushing the industry to lower emissions across the entire building lifecycle. In Denmark, single-family homes must meet strict CO₂ limits, requiring building materials with lower environmental footprints.

Vesterled Brickworks, part of Wienerberger, is working towards carbon neutrality by 2050 by continuously improving the energy efficiency of its brick production and reducing its reliance on fossil fuels.

A key step in this transition is the introduction of the LESS brick, an innovative hollow brick design that uses 15 % less raw material compared to traditional solid bricks. The improved resource efficiency allows the plant to produce up to 76 more bricks per ton of clay.

Alongside product innovation, Vesterled has implemented several measures to reduce emissions from production. The brickworks has transitioned its firing process to 100 % biogas, implemented energy optimisation throughout the production process, and increased the utilisation of excess heat.

In addition, the company is investing in future technologies such as electric kilns, carbon capture and the reuse of excess heat, which could potentially supply energy to the local district heating network.

Continuous optimisation of the production process has already delivered measurable results. Between 2005 and 2023, Vesterled reduced energy consumption per ton of bricks by 15 %.

By switching from solid bricks to the LESS brick design, the same number of bricks can now be produced with significantly lower energy use and CO₂ emissions.

In 2025, the company took another major step by transitioning its production almost entirely to LESS bricks, further strengthening the environmental performance of its products.