2016 world green energy investment falls 18%

Global green energy investment has plunged by the largest amount in more than a decade as a spending splurge in China and Japan has leveled off and the price of solar panels continues to fall. A total of $287bn was poured into wind farms, solar parks and other clean power systems in 2016, down 18% from the record set in 2015, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance research group. That is the biggest one-year drop recorded by the group, which has been tracking clean energy investments since 2004. According to the Financial Times, the fall comes amid concern in environmental movements about the rise of populist leaders such as US president-elect Donald Trump, who has cast doubt on the existence of climate change and vowed to boost the fossil fuel industry.