From China’s emissions to Australia’s offshore windfarms, things are moving on climate – some even in the right direction

A rally at Flagstaff Point in Wollongong against a proposed offshore wind turbine farm to be located 10km off the Illawarra coast. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

If you’re searching for some hope on the climate crisis before the Cop28 UN meeting in Dubai this month, try this: China may be changing direction on pollution earlier than expected.

Lauri Myllyvirta, a longtime China analyst now with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, calculated that CO₂ emissions from the world’s biggest national polluter are likely to fall next year and could then go into “structural decline”.