China has leapfrogged the UK when it comes to attracting renewable energy investment, a new study from Ernst & Young has revealed.

According to the latest index compiled by the firm, Germany remains the leading European destination for investors looking to put money into green energy, thanks largely to the favourable tariffs offered by the government there.

In comparison, Britain dropped from fourth to sixth place over the past 12 months, with this decline largely attributed to a number of setbacks within the renewable energy sector in the UK, not least Shell's decision to withdraw and put its money into the United States, which topped the overall chart.

Despite this, the British Wind Energy Association has expressed its confidence that the UK green energy industry is going from strength to strength, arguing that the Chinese government's recent focus on improving infrastructure has enabled it to climb up the global rankings.

"I think this report says more about China than it does about the UK," the organisation's economic director Gordon Edge told the Financial Times.

The study also concluded that China is on course to reach its target of producing 30GW of renewable energy by 2020, having already reached its 2010 goal three years early.