Global investment into low carbon and climate mitigation actions fell by $54 billion (£40.6bn) last year.

That’s according to a new report from the Climate Policy Initiative, which says the significant decrease from a record $437 billion (£328.7bn) in 2015 to $383 billion (£288bn) was mainly due to falling renewable energy costs and lower capacity additions in some countries.

The peak two years ago was driven by private investment in renewables.

This was led by investment in a wide range of clean technologies in China and also growth in rooftop solar power across the US and Japan.

The report suggests investments in other important areas such as green transport, agriculture, water and curbing deforestation remain severely underfunded, with annual needs of more than $1 trillion (£750bn).

It adds fossil fuel investment, estimated at $825 billion (£620bn) last year, continues to dwarf climate change investments.

Climate Policy Initiative Executive Director, Barbara Buchner, said: “While our numbers show that a wide range of public and private finance actors are taking advantage of the strong political signal following the Paris Agreement, a broader scale-up of investments across all sectors is critically needed to avoid dangerous climate change.”