Near-Real-Time Carbon Emission Accounting Technology Toward Carbon Neutrality

Climate change is the greatest environmental threat to humans and the planet in the 21st century. Global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are one of the main causes of the increasing number of extreme climate events. Cumulative carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions showed a linear relationship with cumulative temperature rise since the pre-industrial stage, and this accounts for approximately 80% of the total anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Therefore, accurate and reliable carbon emission data are the foundation and scientific basis for most emission reduction policymaking and target setting. Currently, China has made clear the ambitious goal of achieving the peak of carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. The development of a finer-grained spatiotemporal carbon emission database is urgently needed to achieve more accurate carbon emission monitoring for continuous implementation and the iterative improvement of emission reduction policies. Near-real-time carbon emission monitoring is not only a major national demand but also a scientific question at the frontier of this discipline. This article reviews existing annual-based carbon accounting methods, with a focus on the newly developed real-time carbon emission technology and its current application trends. We also present a framework for the latest near-real-time carbon emission accounting technology that can be widely used. The development of relevant data and methods will provide strong database support to the policymaking for China's “carbon neutrality” strategy. Finally, this article provides an outlook on the future of real-time carbon emission monitoring technology.