Project Vana: Driving Net Zero through Supply Chains with Corporate Land Holdings

Project Vana will connect UK companies with a net zero marketplace built on the UK's fertile corporate open data infrastructure and mature regulatory framework. In conjunction with existing supply chain transparency legislation Vana will help achieve and scale net zero through UK supply chains. Project Vana was designed to do this through enabling corporates with land and buildings to connect with products, services, volunteers and knowledge to reduce their scope 1 emissions. By providing visibility into their supply chains, Vana will enable those same corporates to use their buying leverage to incentivise their suppliers to do the same (scopes 2 and 3).

The market exists, as proven by the Vana prototype (funded by UKRI through UWE/SWCTN). During the pandemic, the Vana prototype successfully identified 29,792 UK & foreign companies that owned 235,605 ha (out of 4,703,136 ha of land owned by organisations) that overlaps with potential woodland opportunities - more than the 18,000 ha target by 2042 set in the UK 25 Year Environment Plan (UK25YEP). These companies have the potential to capture 76.4-101 million tonnes of carbon over 50 years in their land assets (13M+ tonnes by 2030 compared with the 7.2M tonne target). They also are part of the world's largest supply chains.

Project Vana will connect these corporates (with the greatest potential to significantly reduce the UK's carbon emissions through their land and building assets alone) with organisations and companies able to help them achieve net zero on their holdings.