3rd Meeting, 15th Session of the Expert Group…

The UNECE Resource Management Week 2024, including the 15th session of the Expert Group on Resource Management (EGRM-15), will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 22-26 April 2024. Leaders, experts, and stakeholders in resource management will gather to discuss sustainable development challenges and opportunities. Our theme, "Assuring sustainability in resource management", will focus on the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS) and their pivotal role in resource management worldwide. 

Agenda highlights:

• Seminars, Workshops, and Short Courses: Focusing on the UNFC and UNRMS as catalysts for transforming raw materials management.
• Minerals for the Energy Transition: Highlighting the work of the UN Working Group on Transforming Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development.
• Responsible Resource Management: The development and deployment of UNRMS.
• Navigating the Future: Exploring various applications of UNFC.
• Building capacity: International Centres of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management.
• Empowering Sustainability: Discussing global initiatives and case studies.
• Lunchtime lectures: Professor Peter Hopkinson, Co-Director, Exeter Centre for the Circular Economy, Exeter University, and Professor Markus Zils, Circular Economy and Management Science, University of Exeter Business School, UK, on Circular Data (23 April) and Sarah Gordon, CEO, Satarla on The beauty of interconnected natural resource ecosystems, with a focus on ESG issues (25 April).

Session 3: UNFC Minerals and Anthropogenic Resources Practitioners' Forum 

• Chair and Moderator: Erika Ingvald, EGRM Vice-Chair, Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU)

Panel 1: Adoption of UNFC

• Adoption of UNFC – Matthias Hartung, Chair, UNFC Adoption Group, EGRM Commercial Applications Working Group
• Expanding the Metrics – Sigurd Heiberg, Chair, EGRM Commercial Applications Working Group
• G-axis – Alistair Jones, Chair, EGRM G axis Task Force
• Discussion and audience intervention

Panel 2: Challenges in Classifying Primary Raw Materials

• Hendrik Falck, Chair, EGRM Minerals Working Group
• UNFC Expert Estimation – Tom Bide, Senior Scientist, British Geological Survey (BGS)
• New to UNFC – Tania Martins, Chief Geologist, Manitoba Geological Survey
• Basics of Estimation – Garth Kirkham, Chairperson, Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO)
• Discussion and audience intervention

Panel 3: Challenges in Classifying Secondary Raw Materials

• Ulrich Kral, Chair, EGRM Anthropogenic Resources Working Group and Environment Agency Austria
• UNFC inventory for mining and metallurgical residues – Soraya Heuss-Aßbichler, Professor, University of Munich (LMU)
• Financing Secondary Raw Materials Projects on industrial scales – Massimo Gasparon, Director, European Raw Material Alliance (ERMA)
• National Project Portfolio for CRM recovery from waste flows – Daniel Monfort, Geologist Engineer & Project Manager, French Geological Survey (BRGM)
• Discussion and audience intervention

Panel 4: Consistency and Quality Assurance in Classifying

• Slavko Solar, Economic Affairs Officer, Sustainable Energy Division, UNECE
• Consistency – Meta Dobnikar, Head of Unit, Geological Survey of Slovenia
• Quality Assurance – Alistair Jones, Chair, EGRM G-axis Task Force
• UNFC in higher education – Jari Joutsenvaara, Project Coordinator, University of Oulu
• Discussion and audience intervention