Most governments and people did nothing, but there were some that did take decisive action.

We're particularly indebted to Germany and Denmark and a few others. In the 90's and 00's they installed a lot of wind and solar power at particularly ridiculous prices. They were the ones that really bootstrapped the production curve that has lowered the prices so much that today solar and wind power are cheaper than any fossil fuel source.

Today the world is spending over $2T a year on clean energy and electric vehicles.

It's far from enough, but it's likely the difference between 4-5 degrees of climate change instead of the 6-8 we could have ended up with. That's a massive difference.

From what I have read, Europe did a better than the US at the time. Maybe not on purpose.

From what I remember, they let their gas prices raise, keep public transportation viable and some countries even supported bicycling as an alternative.

But it was not enough, especially with a giant at the time spewing CO2 into the air at ever increasing rates. I remember the manufacturing smoke stacks pumping it into the air. Only in the 80s did I start seeing the smoke lessen. By the late 80s, most manufacturing left my area.