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The National
01-05-2025
- Business
- The National
UAE hosts World Bank meeting to curb global gas flaring by 2030
The UAE has hosted the World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GMFR) Partnership meeting as part of a global effort to drive down waste that could otherwise be converted to energy. The World Bank estimates that billions of cubic metres of gas are being released into the air annually due to flaring. This is the process of burning gas during oil production. The associated natural gas, composed mainly of methane, is often treated as waste and burnt or vented directly into the atmosphere. Putting a stop to flaring has environmental and economic benefits, said Zubin Bamji, the World Bank's GFMR manager. GFMR estimates global upstream gas flaring increased to 148 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2023, up from 139 bcm in 2022. "It's about energy security and, at a time when many countries are looking for extra energy supplies, here we see one of the resources being wasted to the tune of billions of cubic metres every year," said Mr Bamji. "We estimate the amount of energy wasted through flaring alone could power the entire Sub-Saharan African continent." Ibrahim Al Zu'bi, Adnoc's chief sustainability officer, echoed this view, highlighting that it has been following a zero routine flaring policy for years and is now sharing its expertise with other national oil companies. A total of $250 million has been earmarked by the development bank, $100 million of which came from the UAE, to support those countries with the least capacity and resources to address these harmful emissions. The partnership is focused on providing grant funding, technical assistance, policy and regulatory reform advisory services, institutional strengthening, and mobilising financing to support action by governments and the industry. GFMR is active in at least dozen countries, which account for about a quarter of the oil and gas sector's methane emissions. In the Middle East, GFMR is helping Iraq, Egypt and Yemen identify opportunities and develop action plans to reduce emissions from oil and gas operations. The GFMR Partnership, launched at Cop28 and managed by the World Bank, offers technical assistance and financial support to countries and operators that commit to long-term methane reduction. The two-day steering committee meeting brought together representatives from countries such as Norway, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, as well as industry giants such as Shell, BP, Total Energies and Equinor. Sixteen projects from across the globe were reviewed, with particular focus on methane measurement, sensor deployment and regulatory alignment. "What impressed me was the diversity of progress," Mr Al Zu'bi said. "Some countries were just beginning the conversation on methane, others were already deploying sensors and tools. This diversity justifies the need for a collaborative platform like this." The UAE's role, he added, extends beyond funding. Adnoc sits on the GFMR's technical advisory group, helping assess project viability and providing support beyond finance, including in data, expertise and capacity building. The next phase of the partnership will involve expanding the number of countries involved, ensuring long-term financial sustainability of the fund and sharing success stories – particularly from smaller or newer producers. "This isn't about one company or one country," said Mr Al Zu'bi. "It's about building a global community committed to smart, sustainable energy practices." With 2030 fast approaching, the World Bank and Adnoc agree that the urgency is real but so is the opportunity.
The National
01-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Adnoc and World Bank join forces to curb global gas flaring by 2030
Adnoc is teaming up with the World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) team to drive down waste that could otherwise be converted into energy. The World Bank estimates that billions of cubic metres of gas are being released into the air annually due to flaring. This is the process of burning gas during oil production. The associated natural gas, composed mainly of methane, is often treated as waste and burnt or vented directly into the atmosphere. Putting a stop to flaring has environmental and economic benefits, said Zubin Bamji, the World Bank's GFMR manager. GFMR estimates global upstream gas flaring increased to 148 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2023, up from 139 bcm in 2022. "It's about energy security and, at a time when many countries are looking for extra energy supplies, here we see one of the resources being wasted to the tune of billions of cubic metres every year," said Mr Bamji. "We estimate the amount of energy wasted through flaring alone could power the entire Sub-Saharan African continent." Ibrahim Al Zu'bi, Adnoc's chief sustainability officer, echoed this view, highlighting that it has been following a zero routine flaring policy for years and is now sharing its expertise with other national oil companies. "We don't just fund this work, we're helping identify technical solutions, mentor emerging producers and support project design so countries can access these grants," he said. A total of $250 million has been earmarked by the development bank, $100 million of which came from the UAE, to support those countries with the least capacity and resources to address these harmful emissions. The partnership is focused on providing grant funding, technical assistance, policy and regulatory reform advisory services, institutional strengthening, and mobilising financing to support action by governments and the industry. GFMR is active in at least dozen countries, which account for about a quarter of the oil and gas sector's methane emissions. In the Middle East, GFMR is helping Iraq, Egypt and Yemen identify opportunities and develop action plans to reduce emissions from oil and gas operations. As host of this year's GFMR steering committee meeting, Adnoc, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, welcomed government representatives and oil companies from around the world to Abu Dhabi this week. "Adnoc is not only a founding member of the GFMR Partnership, we're also its largest donor," Mr Al Zu'bi told The National. The GFMR Partnership, launched at Cop28 and managed by the World Bank, offers technical assistance and financial support to countries and operators that commit to long-term methane reduction. The two-day steering committee meeting brought together representatives from countries such as Norway, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, as well as industry giants such as Shell, BP, Total Energies and Equinor. Sixteen projects from across the globe were reviewed, with particular focus on methane measurement, sensor deployment and regulatory alignment. "What impressed me was the diversity of progress," Mr Al Zu'bi said. "Some countries were just beginning the conversation on methane, others were already deploying sensors and tools. This diversity justifies the need for a collaborative platform like this." The UAE's role, he added, extends beyond funding. Adnoc sits on the GFMR's technical advisory group, helping assess project viability and providing support beyond finance, including in data, expertise and capacity building. The next phase of the partnership will involve expanding the number of countries involved, ensuring long-term financial sustainability of the fund and sharing success stories – particularly from smaller or newer producers. "This isn't about one company or one country," said Mr Al Zu'bi. "It's about building a global community committed to smart, sustainable energy practices." With 2030 fast approaching, the World Bank and Adnoc agree that the urgency is real but so is the opportunity.
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Take it cheesy: the fascinating, disgusting world of dairy curd in the Tudor era
They are 450-year-old words of wisdom but they will ring true with anyone rooting around the fridge for late night comfort: 'A surfyte of cheese doth bringe payne.' The warning for people to curd their enthusiasm is contained in the earliest-known book on cheese in English, a publication that academics say is both fascinating and nauseating. The University of Leeds acquired it at auction in 2023 and it has now been transcribed and made available for everyone to read on its website. It includes a recommendation to use rancid cheese and bacon fat as a cure for gout: 'Havinge his joynts full of knobbes or knottes, hit came in my minde to macerate that olde cheese with the decoction of fatte bacon, and to beate the same well in a mortar, and so to laye hit to his knotted joyntes, which done that man was greatly eased of the gowte.' No one at Leeds is urging people today to attempt rubbing such a foul mixture into their own knobbed and knotted joints. But Alex Bamji, associate professor of early modern history at the university, said she was struck by the book's contemporary resonance. She pointed to the passage: 'He that will judge whether cheese be a convenyent foode for him, must consider the nature of the body, and the disposicion and temperamente of the cheese and both considered he shalbe hable to judge whether he is like to take harme be cheese or not.' Bamji said: 'The term 'dairy intolerant' might not have been used then, but there's certainly an understanding here that cheese works better in some people's bodies than others – although the author explains this through the system of the 'humors', and the idea that your body will be either hotter or colder and dryer or more moist.' The book, titled 'A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodness, of the same' probably dates back to the 1580s and was unpublished and unknown until it surfaced at auction. It is 112 pages and bound in vellum. Its writer is unknown. Bamji said it could be best described as a treatise. 'It's a substantial piece of work,' she said. 'As with other treatises from this period, the writer has woven together ancient knowledge with their own learning and experience. 'It's such a great fit with what we know about how people understood the role of diet in health in the period. 'Food was useful both to prevent and to respond to illness, and ordinary people had quite a complex understanding of that.' Food historian Peter Brears said he thought the book was remarkable. 'I've never seen anything like it,' he said. 'It's probably the first comprehensive academic study of a single foodstuff to be written in the English language.' Other passages in the book include affirming what most people think today – that the end of a meal is the best time to eat cheese. 'Cheese doth presse downe the meate to the botome of the stomake,' it reads. A less useful tip is that dog's milk 'doth cause a woman to be delivered of her childe before tyme'. The transcription was made by Ruth Bramley, part of a team of re-enactors at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk. Readings from the book can be heard on a special edition of Radio 4's The Food Programme which includes an attempt to replicate one of the Tudor recipes.
BBC News
18-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cheeseboard origins uncovered in Leeds University manuscript
The tradition of having a cheeseboard at the end of a meal dates back at least 400 years to Tudor times, according to historians studying the the oldest English book on origins of the post-meal staple were uncovered in the Elizabethan manuscript during work to transcribe the original handwritten text, held at the University of Leeds, by Tudor re-enactors at Kentwell Hall in 16th Century document - titled A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes, of the same - had been unknown until it was bought at auction in to Radio 4, Dr Alex Bamji, professor of early modern studies in Leeds, said the text showed some Tudor people had a cheeseboard at the end of a meal, like we do today. "People were really interested at this time about when you should eat cheese," Dr Bamji said."Generally the view was that it was best to eat cheese at the end of the meal."That's quite interesting because in some cultures in Europe you eat cheese at the end of the meal, and that's persisted through time."It is the origins of the cheeseboard. They would have a selection of cheese at the end of the meal, much as we do today." The transcription was made by Ruth Bramley, who used the digitised version of the 112-page manuscript, which dates back to the 1580s, on the university's Bramley is a re-enactment expert in textiles, but also has experience transcribing early modern handwriting, she colleague Tamsin Bacchus, who works in the Tudor dairy at Kentwell, said the author's comments on Suffolk cheeses were "scathing"."It's reassuring to find written down what we know from our actual practice in the Kentwell Dairy: that to make a really hard cheese to keep indefinitely ('Suffolk Thump') you skim off all the cream."He's a bit scathing about it, though, calling it 'the worste kind of cheese, accordinge to our Englishe proverbe, hit is badde cheese when the butter is gone to the market'." The identity of the book's author is unclear, but three owners' names show it circulated around a family of Tudor courtiers called the Bayley, whose name appears at the end of the text, was physician to Elizabeth historian Peter Brears said he had "never seen anything like it"."It was absolutely astonishing, because it's not the sort of housewifely farm economy volume, it's an incredible work of scholarship in its own right."This shows us that we have a cheese heritage and even by the Elizabethan period cheese of different kinds are being considered and here we have a study of the importance of cheese from a dietary point of view." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
