An IEA report says that energy investment stabilised at $1.8tn in 2018, after years of decline.

Statistics from the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) indicate that the UK’s energy supply increasingly comes from renewable sources at the expense of fossil fuels.

The figures show that in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018 renewables formed 37.1% of the country’s energy supply, a 7% increase on Q4 in 2017. This makes renewables the UK’s second biggest source of energy, behind gas at 37.9%, having fallen from 40% in Q4 of 2017.

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Nuclear power fell from 18.1% at the end of 2017 to 16.5% in 2018. Low-carbon sources in Total reached 53.6% in the quarter, just above the 2018 average of 52.8%.

Coal continued to decline, going from 9.1% in Q4 of 2017 to 5.7% in Q4 2018 while oil and gas remained stable at 2.7%. Total electricity generation decreased by 1.4% from 339 terawatt (TWh) hours in 2017 to 334TWh in 2018.

Since 2008, energy obtained from renewables has risen by over 400% from 22TWh to 111TWh whilst coal has declined by 86% since 2008, falling from 124 terawatt hours (TWh) to just 17TWh.

A BEIS spokesperson said: “We continue to lead the world in clean growth, going further than any other G7 nation by cutting our emissions by over 40 per cent since 1990, whilst growing our economy.

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“The UK has already gone more than 833 hours without coal this year, and we are investing £2.5 billion in low carbon innovation through our modern Industrial Strategy.

“All this means the UK is firmly on track to meet its target to phase out coal completely by 2025.”

The BEIS also tweeted: “The latest quarterly stats from our major power generators show the UK is continuing to move to a cleaner, greener energy mix.”