ONLY ON AP Stiell: COP28 will be 'very difficult'

(5 Jun 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ++AMENDS HEADLINE FROM COP23 TO COP28++ ++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++ ASSOCIATED PRESS Bonn, Germany - 3 June 2023 ++VIDEO CALL QUALITY++ 1. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Stiell, United Nations' climate chief: “Expectations are high, the challenges are no less high. This is going to be a very difficult COP. The geopolitical situation last year was difficult. This year it's gotten even more even more challenging. But I remain optimistic. There are paths forward in every single area.” ++ BLACK FRAMES ++ 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Stiell, United Nations' climate chief: “In a region where fossil fuels is at the center of their economy, the expertise resides there. The question is whether the difficult questions that will be presented, the difficult discussions that are due to take place there, whether parties are ready to actually answer and respond to those questions.” ++ BLACK FRAMES ++ 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Stiell, United Nations' climate chief: “The discussion within this environment on fossil fuel and and its future is something that is the top of every discussion or most discussions that are taking place and then outside of here, civil society, the public at large. It is an issue that has global attention. How that translates into an agenda item and a COP outcome? We will see.” ++ BLACK FRAMES ++ 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Stiell, United Nations' climate chief: “And the question of the phase down or phasing out of fossil fuels we know is a central element in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and getting us onto that path for 1.5. So the opportunity to have this on the agenda is there. But more importantly, how does the process and how do we as the global actors within that respond to it?” ++ BLACK FRAMES ++ 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Stiell, United Nations' climate chief: “It should be, if an objective view is taken, to be able to see the role of technology in emission reduction and the role it plays today, the role it will play maybe 10 years from now or further down the road. But right now, in this in this critical decade of action, what is to achieve those deep reductions, the science tells us, it can only be achieved through the reduced use, significant reduced use, of all fossil fuels.” ++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++ STORYLINE: The world needs to phase out fossil fuels if it wants to curb global warming, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell has told The Associated Press in an interview. But he acknowledged that the idea might not make it on to the agenda of “make-or-break” international climate negotiations this autumn, run in and by a fossil fuel haven. A fossil fuel phase out “is something that is at top of every discussion or most discussions that are taking place,” the U.N. climate Executive Secretary said. “It is an issue that has global attention. How that translates into an agenda item and a (climate talks) outcome we will see.” Stiell was speaking from Bonn in Germany, where preliminary talks leading up to the climate summit begin on Monday. Despite calling a fossil fuel phase out central to the fight against warming four times during a half-hour interview, Stiell told AP he couldn't quite promise it would get a spot on the agenda at the talks, called COP28, in Dubai later this year. He added that the agenda decision was up to the president of the negotiations, who happens to be the head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Sultan al-Jaber. Stiell dismissed the idea that carbon removal can be a short-term solution. ---- Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...