Promoting low-carbon land use: from theory to practical application through exploring new methods

Cities are major carbon emission generators, and land use changes significantly impact carbon balance. This study addresses limitations in spatial carbon monitoring and patch-scale low-carbon land use adjustments by developing a high-resolution carbon monitoring model and a patch-scale low-carbon land use model. Using Shangyu District, China as a case study, the research reveals increasing carbon emissions and sinks between 2000 and 2020, with sinks offsetting only about 3% of emissions. Land-use change analysis indicates that land-use transfer resulted in increased annual carbon emissions. Through land-use structure optimization and patch-scale low-carbon land optimization, significant reductions in carbon emissions and increases in carbon sinks are projected. The developed methods effectively contribute to high-resolution carbon monitoring and support low-carbon land use planning and city planning.

Xiaowei Chuai, Hongbo Xu, Zemiao Liu, Ai Xiang, Yuting Luo, Wanliu Mao, Tong Wang, Xin Ye, Lijuan Miao, Rongqin Zhao, Fengtai Zhang