Costs of wind and solar power are falling sharply.

Almost half of new electricity generation is now renewable, and the costs of wind and solar power are falling sharply.

Solar Panels in Guyana Interior.

The latest annual Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment, published today by UNEP, reveals that 44 per cent of all generating capacity installed last year around the world was renewable. That is despite a 14 per cent decline in renewables investment, and in new electricity generally.

Uruguay Wind Farm

Last year, China invested $56 billion in green power.

The continent cut investment by 44 per cent.

The only big exception was the UK, which increased investment by 12 per cent despite rumblings of discontent in the governing Conservative party.

Renewables kept 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted in 2013, says report author Ulf Moslener of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management in Germany.