CAIRO, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The amount of electricity generated from renewable energy in Egypt increased from 8.7 billion kWh in 2019/2020 to 10.2 billion kWh in 2020/2021, marking a year-on-year increase of 17.2 percent, Egypt's official statistics agency said on Saturday.

       "Egypt has the largest wind and solar energy capacity in the Middle East and North Africa," according to a report issued by the country's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on the eve of the World Environment Day, which is marked by the United Nations on June 5 every year.

       The number of natural gas-powered cars in Egypt increased by 20.6 percent from 42,292 cars in 2019/2020 to 51,000 cars in 2020/2021, according to the report.

       Egypt is heading toward a higher usage of renewable energy as part of its Egypt Vision 2030 agenda.

       Over the past few years, Egypt has been building the Benban Solar Energy Park in the southern province of Aswan, which is one of the world's largest solar plants.

       Egypt will also host the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort city.