United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) is an international scheme for the classification, management and reporting of energy, mineral, and raw material resources.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is an intergovernmental organization or a specialized body of the United Nations. The UNECE is one of five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Econom ...
's (UNECE) Expert Group on Resource Management (EGRM) is responsible for the development promotion and further development of UNFC.
Development
Classification and management of natural resources such as minerals and petroleum are classified using differing schemes. In 1997, UNECE published the United Nations Framework Classification for Reserves and Resources of Solid Fuels and Mineral Commodities (UNFC-1997) as a unifying international system for classifying solid minerals and fuels. In 2004, the Classification was revised to include petroleum (oil and natural gas) and uranium and renamed the UNFC for Fossil Energy and Mineral Resources 2004 (UNFC-2004). In 2009, a simplified United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources 2009 (UNFC-2009) was published. In response to the application of UNFC being extended to renewable energy, injection projects for geological storage and anthropogenic resources, the name was changed in 2017 to the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC). An updated version of UNFC, with improved terminology, was released in 2019.
Application
The UNFC system is used for:
# Policy formulation in energy and raw material studies
# National resources management functions
# Corporate business processes
# Financial reporting
UNFC currently applies to minerals,
petroleum,
renewable energy, nuclear fuel resources,
injection projects for geological storage, and anthropogenic resources. Application of UNFC to
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
resources is being evaluated.
Implementation
UNFC has been adopted as the basis of national resource classification in many countries including China,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, Mexico, Poland and
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
.
African Union Commission
The African Union Commission (AUC) acts as the executive/administrative branch or secretariat of the African Union. It is headed by a chairperson and consists of a number of Commissioners dealing with different areas of policy.
The African ...
has developed a UNFC-based African Mineral and Energy Resources Classification and Management System (AMREC) as a unifying system for Africa. AMREC includes a
Pan African Resource Reporting Code (PARC 2023).
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
is using UNFC to classify and report raw material resources of Europe and mandated the same in the
Critical Raw Materials Act.
References
{{Reflist
See also
*
United Nations Resource Management System
External links
UNFC on UNECE website
Minerals
Natural resource management
Petroleum
Renewable energy
Resource economics
Resource extraction