Study on the Evaluation Index System for Low-Carbon Neighborhoods

Urban areas account for approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are central to climate governance. However, low-carbon urban-block development still lacks an integrated indicator system and an operational management method for evaluating carbon-reduction performance. This study reviews carbon-emission-related indicators from domestic and international policies, standards, and planning cases, focusing on six domains: energy, buildings, transportation, solid waste, water systems, and carbon sinks. Through word-frequency analysis and a four-step validation procedure, a two-level indicator system with six primary categories and 22 secondary indicators is developed. The analytic hierarchy process and expert scoring are used to determine indicator weights, and a comprehensive carbon-reduction evaluation index (CCI) is introduced to quantify overall performance. The method is applied to a selected block in Guangzhou, China. A whole-process carbon management framework, covering systematic planning, performance evaluation, and technical optimization, is implemented for the case area. From 2020 to 2025, total carbon emissions decreased by 26.61%, and the CCI reached 0.9924, indicating substantial aggregate improvement relative to the 2020 baseline. The results show that the proposed indicator system and CCI-based evaluation method can identify key governance priorities, measure implementation performance, and support refined low-carbon management at the urban block scale.