(Adds comment from Egypt foreign minister)
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The world is "not on a good track" to meet a global goal to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and needs to step up efforts to move away from fossil fuels this decade, John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate change, said on Monday.
"We're in trouble. I hope everyone understands that," Kerry told an event called Building Momentum to UN COP27 hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and officials from Egypt, the host of the next UN climate summit.
Kerry told the event that he is concerned about the recent uptick in the use of coal globally and about plans to build new coal plants without carbon capture technology.
Egypt will host in November the next UN climate summit, known as COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh where the government will look to showcase its own work to phase out coal https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/innovative-financing-can-help-unlock-promises-egypts-cop27-minister-2021-12-02 in power generation, improve management of waste water, and launch the construction of public transportation projects.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry said as the host of the UN climate summit, Egypt will aim to be a voice of African nations who are among the most affected by climate change and focus on implementing what has been codified in the Paris climate agreement.
"We will be listening to the needs and priorities of Africa and other developing countries who have suffered greatly from the negative effects of climate change," Shoukry said. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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