New clean energy investment worldwide rose by 3 percent last year to $333.5 billion from a year earlier, driven by a surge in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, research showed.

The figure is below 2015's record amount of $360.3 billion, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) said in an annual report. Solar investment totalled $160.8 billion in 2017, up 18 percent from the previous year even though technology costs have fallen. Just over half of that was spent in China, the research showed.

Chinese investment in clean energy as a whole totalled $132.6 billion last year, up 24 percent from a year earlier to a record high. Europe invested $57.4 billion, down 26 percent from the previous year, and the United States invested $56.9 billion, up 1 percent on 2016. Meanwhile, $127.9 billion changed hands last year - the highest amount ever - as organizations purchased and sold clean energy projects and companies and refinanced existing project debt.