There are some encouraging trends, but the progress they've made to date is still very small compared to the size of the problem.

Perhaps the most encouraging trend is the exponential growth of the photovoltaic solar panel industry. If that continues, it will certainly be a huge help. But you have to weigh that against the fact that there are still a couple of billion people with no access to power at all. All together, world carbon emissions are not likely to fall anytime soon.

A 40% decline in licenses is not "very small". It's enormous.

Likewise China realized it couldn't double down on coal indefinitely, they had to back off. When your pollution becomes so bad planes can't take off you have to re-think your strategy.

China used coal because it was cost-effective, but now the costs of coal are too high to sustain its use. They're just going where the money is, and right now that's solar.

China itself doesn't have a lot of fossil fuels other than oil so naturally they're interested in something that makes them energy independent. Energy is, after all, power.