I don't think there ever was another solution.

Climate change policy will always incur asymmetrical costs, and the people who it effects wouldn't willingly enact them, and others would rarely share that burden in a meaningful way. Outside of innovation, any other policy will most likely incur economic cost which politicians are hesitant to do, especially now with how stretched lower classes are.

I think the only way out is to make non hydrocarbon based energy production cheaper and as dependable as hydrocarbons.