Applying the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources for a national raw materials inventory in Italy

The increasing demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) driven by the green and digital transitions calls for the implementation of a robust resource management framework across Europe. Similarly to other EU Member States, Italy faces challenges in managing the inventory of its mineral resources, stemming mainly from in-homogeneous and discontinued data collection, in the absence of a specific classification and reporting system adopted at national level. The implementation of a coherent and centralized data collection and classification system could help improve the currently fragmented regional reporting practices, in turn supporting Italy to contribute to the objectives of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). Resource classification is important to resource management, serving as one of the foundations for collecting, analyzing, and communicating data on resources, presenting data into information for decision-making and policy formulation. The United Nations Framework Classifications for Resources (UNFC) offers a standardized approach that bridges current gaps in classification, and reporting practices. This paper pursues the objectives of assessing the applicability of UNFC in Italy using publicly available data. Besides demonstrating the applicability of UNFC in Italy, the findings support a shift towards standardized, policy-relevant resource classification for a sustainable and transparent resource management system, by classifying the raw materials projects in UNFC, and furthermore the development of a UNFC-based Italian national raw materials inventory.