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 one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and i ...

'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 soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

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 (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Mexico, Poland and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

African Union Commission The Commission of the African Union acts as the executive/administrative branch or secretariat of the African Union (and is somewhat analogous to the European Commission). It consists of a number of Commissioners dealing with different areas of ...

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 Resources Reporting Code (PARC).

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

is using UNFC to classify and report raw material resources of Europe.

References

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External links

UNFC on UNECE website
Minerals Natural resource management Petroleum Renewable energy Resource economics Resource extraction