Inequality characteristics and influencing factors of CO2 emissions per capita in Jiangsu Province, China.

Analyzing the inequality characteristics and influencing factors of CO2 emissions per capita (CEPC) is conducive to balancing regional development and CO2 emissions reduction. This study applied the Gini coefficient and Theil index to investigate the CEPC inequalities during 2005-2017 at the county level in Jiangsu Province, China. Considering the spatial spillover and interaction effects, the factors influencing CEPC were analyzed by a hierarchical spatial autoregressive model. The results showed that the inequalities in CEPC first increased and then decreased at the inter-regional, and inter-county levels. The spatial pattern of CEPC was stable, and there was a significantly positive spatial autocorrelation of CEPC at the county level. The High-High type counties were mainly located in Sunan (southern Jiangsu). The spatial interaction effects of the CEPC between the prefecture and county levels indicated that governments at the prefecture level should integrate their county governments to reduce the CEPC. Moreover, carbon intensity, GDP per capita, land urbanization, and industrial structure play an important role in reducing CEPC. Our findings provide a scientific basis for formulating reasonable and effective carbon emission reduction policies.

[Study of Peak Carbon Emission of a City in Yangtze River Delta Based on LEAP Model].

Based on the LEAP model framework, a LEAP-X sub-sector calculation model suitable for X City was constructed in this study. Four scenarios including a baseline scenario, low-carbon scenario, enhanced low-carbon scenario, and peak in 2023 scenario were set up to predict and analyze the carbon emission situation. The calculation and analysis results showed that it could achieve the carbon peak before 2030 only under the enhanced low-carbon scenario and peak in 2023 scenario. The peak year of the enhanced low-carbon scenario was around 2025 with a peak carbon emission of approximately 170 million tons, but the peak time may actually be delayed. Industry was the largest sector of carbon emissions, and the petrochemical industry was the largest portion of industry, the proportion of which was always maintained at approximately 30% under different scenarios. However, the proportion of power generation and steel industry decreased annually, whereas the proportion of the net imported power gradually increased. Industrial structure optimization and energy structure adjustment were the main driving factors of carbon peak in X City. Carbon emissions per unit of GDP will fall by approximately 41% in 2030 compared with that in 2020 under the enhanced low-carbon scenario.

Carbon budget and evaluation of marine industry in Jiangsu Province, China.

The measurement and evaluation of carbon budget of marine industry is the basis for promoting green and efficient development of marine economy under the goal of carbon neutrality. We constructed a carbon accounting system for the marine industry in Jiangsu Province, and assessed carbon efficiency and neutrality. The results showed that from 2016 to 2020, the total amount of marine carbon sinks in Jiangsu Province were 894.8 to 2773.2 thousand tons, while carbon emissions of major marine industries were 3538.4 to 4350.6 thousand tons. The net emissions of marine industries ranged from 1478.7 to 2906.1 thousand tons. Both of carbon sinks and emissions were significantly increased in this period. In terms of carbon sinks, the offshore wind power accounted for the largest contribution, followed by ecosystem carbon sequestration, and mariculture carbon sequestration was the smallest. In terms of carbon emissions, the marine transportation industry played a dominant role, followed by coastal tourism and marine fisheries, while the marine engineering and construction industry and marine shipping industry accounted for a small proportion. In general, the carbon neutral status showed that marine industry in Jiangsu Province was in carbon deficit from 2016-2020, but the net emissions were decreasing year by year. The net carbon sink efficiency of mariculture in Jiangsu Province was lower than the national level, and carbon efficiency of offshore wind power was stable.

Reveal the inequality hidden in industry land use by integrating domestic trade and the industry efficiency.

Although industrial land accounts for a low percentage of the land surface, it can significantly affect the development of the economy and the environment. Unbalanced development makes industry efficiency differ vastly across China. Industry products embodied in domestic trade link the indirect use of industry inputs and outputs. Regional inequality needs to be more scientifically checked by comprehensively considering both trade and the efficiency, which may be determined by diverse indices. Accordingly, this study examined industrial land use among provinces and the efficiency, identified the embodied land, developed approaches to ascertain how industrial land use would change without domestic trade, and revealed the inequalities in industrial land by considering the trade. Results found that provinces along China's coastline usually have a highly industrialised area, and the developed regions usually have high efficiency. Guangdong, Henan, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Liaoning, Anhui, Hebei, and Heilongjiang have high values in both industrial land serving external provinces and the reverse use in external provinces. Through domestic trade, China saved a total of 462 km2 of land to be converted into industrial land, which is mainly due to developed regions providing industrial land use to undeveloped regions with low efficiency. The inequality analysis shows that most provinces were in a moderate state. Heilongjiang, Gansu, and Guangxi have obvious disadvantages. Some suggestions have been made for harmonious industry development and enhanced efficiency, such as the implementation of efficiency and price-based land use policies, industry and energy structure optimisation, technological improvement, and appropriate compensation.

Carbon allowance allocation based on comprehensive performance of carbon emissions: Case of typical industries in Zhengzhou.

Studying the comprehensive performance of industrial carbon emission has profound significance for improving carbon allowance allocation scheme and achieving the carbon neutrality target. The paper selects 181 enterprises in Zhengzhou as the case, a comprehensive carbon emission performance indicator system and a carbon allowance allocation model were established, and compared with other allocation schemes (historical/baseline method). The results showed that the overall differences in the comprehensive performance evaluation indicator of carbon emissions in typical industries in Zhengzhou were obvious, and there was a correlation with the characteristics of industrial production activities. The overall emission reduction of Zhengzhou was 244.33×103t, and the emission reduction ratio was 7.94% by simulating carbon allowance allocation under the comprehensive performance. The carbon allowance allocation method based on the comprehensive performance has the strongest restraint on the "high emission, low performance" industry, which is more equitable and more conducive to carbon emission reduction. In the future, it will be recommended to give full play to the leading role of the government, implement industrial carbon allowance allocation based on the comprehensive performance evaluation of carbon emissions, to achieve multi-objectives of resource conservation, environmental pollution abatement, and carbon reduction.

Tracking the spatial-temporal distribution and regional differences of carbon footprint in grid scale of China's construction industry.

As the largest contributor to global carbon emissions (CEs), construction industry (CI) is regarded as one of the most significant sources in China. Previous studies on carbon emission (CE) of CI, however, are often limited to the quantitative level and provincial or local administrative unit scales, lacking relevant studies at the spatial raster resolution scale, due to data limits. Here, using the energy consumption, social economic data, and a series of remote sensing data from EU EDGAR, this study explored the spatial-temporal distribution and changing characteristics of CEs from CI in typical years of 2007, 2010, and 2012. This study found, from 2007 to 2010, then 2012, in addition to subtle differences, that the direct, indirect, and total CEs of CI all showed an increasing trend overall. In all provincial units except Tianjin and Guangdong, indirect CEs took up more than 50% of the total CEs, which can clearly indicate the "dominant low carbon, recessive high carbon" characteristics of CI. The direct, indirect, and total CEs of the CI in 2007, 2010, and 2012 all showed a positive spatial clustering. Specifically, hot spots were mainly distributed in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta, and cold spots were mainly focused in the west and northeast of China, presenting a similar distribution pattern with population-economy characteristics. These findings can provide references for the policy formulation of regional differentiated emission reduction.

Carbon deficit checks in high resolution and compensation under regional inequity.

Carbon compensation is an effective way of reducing carbon emissions. However, previous studies in this field have been limited and have not examined high-precision scientific carbon compensation under regional inequity. The present study examined initial carbon compensation in the grid and developed a new equitable carbon compensation model. Additionally, it modified the carbon compensation value for each province and analysed how land-use change affected carbon compensation. The results show that, after the modification, the entire carbon deficit reached 17.34 × 108 t C in 2015, representing a decrease of 14% compared with the initial carbon deficit. The area with negative carbon deficit values accounted for 36% of the whole area, concentrated mainly in the south, southwest and northwest. Without modification, the initial carbon compensation reached 537 × 108 USD, and only Yunnan, Sichuan and Hainan provinces being eligible to receive compensation. The final modified carbon compensation was approximately 20% of the initial values, and 11 provinces were eligible to obtain compensation. The other provinces responsible for paying the carbon compensation costs were typically concentrated in Central and Eastern China. Land-use changes in 2015 led to increases in the initial carbon compensation and modified carbon compensation of 3.74 × 108 and 0.13 × 108 USD, respectively. The per-unit land-use change caused greater increases in carbon emissions in China's big cities and the provinces in Central and East China. Some policies, such as macro-control by the central government, diversified forms and patterns of compensation, and auxiliary measures should be formulated/proposed.

The impact of irrigation modes on agricultural water-energy­carbon nexus.

Despite the tremendous contribution of irrigated agriculture in addressing global food security, there is still confusion for farmers and governments about the choice of irrigation mode owing to the drastic environmental impacts of irrigation, including water shortage, energy crisis, and global warming. Exploring the agricultural water-energy­carbon (WEC) nexus under different irrigation modes helps to accomplish the multi-objective of water & energy saving and carbon emission reduction. In this paper, a conceptual framework was nominated to evaluate the water & energy consumption and carbon emissions for winter wheat irrigation at township level and quantitatively discuss the complex interaction by the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the WEC system under different irrigation modes in Henan Province, China. We discovered that irrigation modes profoundly affect water and energy consumption and carbon emissions in agriculture, as well as the spatial distribution of CCD from WEC system. Townships under irrigation mode with diversion and irrigation projects as the primary method (WDI) clustered together in the north and east with highest water consumption and carbon emissions, while townships under irrigation mode with rain-fed agriculture as the primary method (PI) accumulated in the west and south with lower water consumption and carbon emissions. Meanwhile, the CCD of the WEC nexus system was in basic coordination (0.40) and showed an unbalanced spatial distribution pattern with high in the southeast and low in the northwest. By comparing four irrigation modes, the coupling level of the WEC nexus system under irrigation mode with groundwater irrigation as the primary method (GI) was better and PI mode was the least ideal. This study helps to further understand agricultural WEC nexus under different irrigation modes and provide references for local governments in selecting appropriate irrigation modes to realize water-energy saving and carbon emission reduction in agricultural activities.

Trade-driven relocation of ground-level SO2 concentrations across Chinese provinces based on satellite observations.

The influence of trade on ground-level SO2 concentrations in China was evaluated based on multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis, using the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) SO2 columns and SO2 profiles from an atmospheric chemical and transport model, MOZART-4. The provincial sum of ground-level SO2 concentrations has a good consistency with the provincial SO2 emissions (R = 0.65, p < 0.01). The provincial SO2 concentrations presented strong spatial variations, with a range of 5.1-50.6 µg/m3 and an average of 19.7 µg/m3 across China. The international trade increased the SO2 concentrations in all of the provinces and increased the national population-weighted SO2 (PWM-SO2) concentration by 2.9 µg/m3. Interprovincial trade within China decreased the ambient SO2 concentrations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Chongqing and the provinces in southeast and central China, but increased SO2 in the remaining provinces of China. In general, interprovincial trade decreased the national PWM-SO2 concentration by 5.3 µg/m3.

Carbon sinks/sources' spatiotemporal evolution in China and its response to built-up land expansion.

Terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink examination in China still faces great uncertainties. Determinant analysis has focused on climate change but ignored the influence of fast urban expansion. Using remote sensing images, climate variable data, and high-resolution land use data, this research improved net ecosystem productivity (NEP) simulation model based on a large number of field observations, and investigated spatial-temporal changes of NEP. This research calculated the NEP loss caused by built-up land expansion and used geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to explore the spatial heterogeneity of the relationship between NEP growth and built-up land expansion. The results showed that China contributed a carbon sink of 0.33 Pg C per year from 2000 to 2020. Southern China had a greater capacity to sequester carbon than northern China. The carbon sink capacity of most Chinese regions increased. Built-up land expansion caused 4.95 Tg C of carbon sink loss per year, which was mainly concentrated in eastern China. In GWR model, 50.8% of regions showed negative correlations between NEP growth and built-up land expansion. These two variables were mostly positively correlated in the northwest and negatively correlated in the southeast. Consequently, this study suggests that maintaining the capacity of carbon sinks in southern provinces is important for China to meet its carbon neutrality goal.

Study on the Optimization of Territory Spatial "Urban-Agricultural-Ecological" Pattern Based on the Improvement of "Production-Living-Ecological" Function under Carbon Constraint.

The spatial layout of the "Production-Living-Ecological" (PLE) function and the spatial optimization of the "Urban-Agricultural-Ecological" (UAE) pattern are the key points and difficulties in territorial space planning. This paper analyzes their spatial concepts and holds that PLE space is a functional space, while UAE space belongs to a regional space. The optimization of the UAE pattern should be guided by the improvement of the PLE function. Therefore, taking Hefei City, China, as an example, this paper analyzes the evolution of the present UAE pattern, evaluates the PLE function under carbon constraint and then determines the improvement direction of the PLE function and finally simulates the future UAE pattern of territory space. The conclusions are as follows: ① From 2011 to 2019, the urban space increased incrementally, while the agricultural space and ecological space decreased continuously, and the urban space expansion squeezed the agricultural and ecological spaces greatly; ② The PLE functions of four districts in the main city are higher than that of five other counties. After the carbon constraint conditions are included, the PLE functions of the main city were reduced due to the relatively strong capacity of carbon source, while the counties' increased due to a stronger carbon sink capacity; ③ According to the normalized revealed comparative advantage (NRCA) index, it was determined that the functional improvement direction of each district and county are Yaohai District and Shushan District have comprehensive function as a priority, Luyang District and Baohe District give priority to living-ecological function, Changfeng County, Feidong County, Feixi County and Chaohu County give priority to production-ecological function, and Lujiang County gives priority to ecological function; ④ The simulation results show that 2025 is an important node for the evolution of the UAE pattern. The urban spatial expansion during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period will still bring great pressure on agriculture and ecological spaces, and then, the UAE pattern will continue to be optimized and balanced.

Carbon emissions from land use in Jiangsu, China, and analysis of the regional interactions.

Land carbon emissions are primarily determined by land use type, and these emissions could be transferred during interprovincial trade activities. This study took Jiangsu in China as a case, assigned all the energy-related carbon emissions to land, and analyzed the transferred land use carbon emissions through the application of a tele-coupling framework. Finally, the physical spatial distribution of transferred land use carbon emissions within Jiangsu at high resolution was simulated. China and Jiangsu emitted 2.27 × 109 t and 1.43 × 108 t of carbon in 2012, respectively, with industrial and mining land being the biggest emission source, generating more than 70% of their total emissions. Overall, Jiangsu's net carbon emissions transferred to other provinces was 2.41 × 106 t in urban land and 9.03 × 105 t in industrial and mining land, and these carbon emissions were mainly transferred to Hebei, Shandong, and Inner Mongolia. Land utilization intensity and economic development influenced the carbon emission transfer to some extent. Other provinces also transferred a large amount of carbon emissions to Jiangsu, of which 2.57 × 106 t was in urban land and 3.18 × 107 t was in industrial and mining land. Our simulation showed that the emissions in both land use types exhibited a south-north difference within Jiangsu; more specifically, urban land carbon emissions were mainly concentrated in core urban areas, especially in Suzhou, Wuxi, and Nanjing, whereas industrial and mining land carbon emissions were mostly distributed in the periphery of core urban areas and along the Yangtze River. To balance economic development and environment protection, the government must limit the expansion of construction land (especially industrial and mining land), and developed regions should implement various types of ecological compensation measures to help less developed regions reduce carbon embodied in trade activities.

Spatial Differentiation and Influencing Factors of Water Pollution-Intensive Industries in the Yellow River Basin, China.

The structure adjustment and layout optimization of water pollution-intensive industries (WPIIs) are crucial to the health and sustainable development of the watershed life community. Based on micro-detailed data of Chinese industrial enterprises from 2003 to 2013, we analyzed and revealed the spatial differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of WPIIs in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 2003 to 2013 by constructing a water pollution-intensive index and integrating kernel density estimation and geographically weighted regression models from a watershed perspective. The results show that: (1) the scale of WPIIs in the YRB showed a growth trend from 2003 to 2013, and the output value increased from 442.5 billion yuan in 2003 to 6192.4 billion yuan in 2013, an increase of 13 times. (2) WPIIs are generally distributed in an east-west direction, and their spatial distribution is river-side, with intensive distribution in the downstream areas and important tributaries such as Fen River and Wei River. (3) WPIIs are generally clustered in high density downstream, but the spatial clustering characteristics of different industries varied significantly. The chemical industries, paper industries, etc. were mainly concentrated in downstream areas. Processing of food from agricultural products was distributed in the upper, middle and downstream areas. Resource-intensive industries such as coal and oil were concentrated in energy-rich midstream areas. (4) Natural resource endowment was the main factor affecting the distribution of WPIIs in the midstream and upstream areas of the basin, and technological innovation played a significant role in the distribution of downstream industries. The level of economic development and industrial historical foundation promoted the geographical concentration of industries. The scale of wastewater discharge and the proximity of rivers influenced the concentration of industries in the midstream and downstream.

Regional interaction of lung cancer incidence influenced by PM2.5 in China.

PM2.5 is the key pollutant threatening human health and can even cause lung cancer. Pollution is the most serious problem in China with its fast industrialisation, urbanisation and high population density. This pollutant is conveyed through the atmosphere, trade and the embodied emission flow amongst regions. Scientific evaluation of the responsibility for regional lung cancer by considering both internal and external influences seems to be meaningful in addressing regional inequity. This study develops a relatively convenient and practical method to evaluate the regional inequity reflected by lung cancer associated with PM2.5 pollution in China. Results show that PM2.5 emissions and concentrations have similar distribution patterns: high values were predominant in the east and south where has high population density, while the west had low values. The cancer incidence rate showed high values mainly in eastern and central China. At a provincial scale, the lung cancer incidence rate was significantly correlated with PM2.5 concentration levels, and a high correlation was also found between PM2.5 concentration and emissions, indicating that emission reduction is the key to lung cancer prevention. Due to domestic trade, some developed regions more pulled lung cancer in less developed regions, and some less developed regions also have an obvious influence on external regions. Spatially, provinces in northern and central China are always more influenced by external regions. Lung cancer inequity analysis shows that coastline regions are more advantaged, while the reverse applies to inland China. The central government needs to further strengthen regional coordinated development measures, such as economic compensation for medical care and adjustments to industry structure. It should optimise spatial allocation and comprehensively consider regional inequity and character.

Spatial Analysis of Citizens' Environmental Complaints in China: Implications in Environmental Monitoring and Governance.

Citizen environmental complaints play a key role in China's current environmental monitoring network and environmental governance system. Based on 5796 cases of environmental complaints lodged by citizens via hotline and the internet to the MEP of China, we examined the spatial characteristics and influencing factors of citizen complaints for the period of 2013-2017 using spatial analysis methods and spatial econometric models. The roles of citizen complaints in the two systems were then reevaluated. The results show that, among all cases, 75.88% of cases were identified as verified complaints, while nearly a 25% noisy rate directed large amounts of inspection resources to be utilized in response to nonverified cases. Air pollution received the most attention by citizens in China, accounting for 67.22% of total cases. The hotspots of citizen complaints were mostly distributed in the three major national urban agglomerations in China. We found that industrial wastewater and SO2 were positively associated with the likelihood of citizens filing complaints, while the effect of industrial soot/dust emission was insignificant. Citizen complaints might be triggered by certain, but not all, forms of pollutants, even though highly visible particulate pollutants did not necessarily induce corresponding complaints. Moreover, the negative relationship between citizen complaints and per capita GDP revealed the unbalanced geographical pattern between economical development and environmental quality. The proliferation of the internet greatly facilitated citizens lodging complaints through various ways. The synergy mechanism between citizen environmental complaints and other parts in China's environmental monitoring and governance system should be established in the future.

A new approach to evaluate regional inequity determined by PM2.5 emissions and concentrations.

PM2.5 is one of the most severe types of air pollution that threatens human health. Its emissions have a notable spillover effect once released into the atmosphere and transported. In domestic trade, PM2.5 emissions can be indirectly imported from external regions. Thus, regional inequity caused by PM2.5 needs to be integrated and comprehensively estimated. Based on PM2.5 emissions/concentrations grid maps and an input-output model, this study first examined the temporal-spatial changes in PM2.5 emissions/concentrations across China. Additionally, a detailed relationship between PM2.5 emissions and concentrations was examined at multiple scales, both temporal and spatial. Finally, this study developed a new approach with which to evaluate regional inequity. The results show that PM2.5 emissions and concentrations increased between 1990 and 2012 and 1998 and 2016, respectively; the increase was more obvious for PM2.5 emissions. Spatially, a rapid increase in PM2.5 emissions was observed in the North China Plain and the Sichuan Basin. Between 1998 and 2012, the distribution of PM2.5 concentrations was similar to that of emissions; however, between 2013 and 2016, 46.6% of the total area showed a decrease, mainly in the central and southern parts of China. Relationship analysis revealed that PM2.5 emissions and concentrations are closely correlated in both time and space. There was obvious regional inequity among provinces; developed regions always imported considerably more PM2.5 emissions from undeveloped regions than they exported. Overall, the regional inequity estimation framework shows that provinces along the coastline, especially developed provinces, have advantages under the regional inequity estimation framework, while most of the inland regions have disadvantages, especially in the west and north.

China's pathway to a low carbon economy.

Climate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental issues worldwide. As the world's biggest developing country, China is participating in combating climate change by promoting a low carbon economy within the context of global warming. This paper summarizes the pathways of China's low carbon economy including the aspects of energy, industry, low carbon cities, circular economy and low carbon technology, afforestation and carbon sink, the carbon emission trading market and carbon emission reduction targets. There are many achievements in the implementation of low carbon policies. For example, carbon emission intensity has been reduced drastically along with the optimizing of energy and industry structure and a nationwide carbon trading market for electricity industry has been established. However, some problems remain, such as the weakness of public participation, the ineffectiveness of unified policies for certain regions and the absence of long-term planning for low carbon cities development. Therefore, we propose some policy recommendations for the future low carbon economy development in China. Firstly, comprehensive and long-term planning should be involved in all the low carbon economy pathways. Secondly, to coordinate the relationship between central and local governments and narrow the gap between poor and rich regions, different strategies of carbon emission performance assessment should be applied for different regions. Thirdly, enterprises should cooperate with scientific research institutions to explored low carbon technologies. Finally, relevant institutions should be regulated to realize comprehensive low carbon transition through reasonable and feasible low carbon pathways in China. These policy recommendations will provide new perspectives for China's future low carbon economy development and guide practices for combating climate change.

High resolution carbon emissions simulation and spatial heterogeneity analysis based on big data in Nanjing City, China.

The accurate examination of the spatial distribution of carbon emissions is critical for carbon reduction strategies. Large uncertainties still exist for previous studies which tried to simulate carbon emissions in spatial, and the resolution needs to be improved to a large extent. At a city level, this study collected various sources of big data and designed a new methodology to examine carbon emissions in Nanjing city at a high resolution of 300 m. In addition, regional differences were compared, and influence factors were analyzed. This study found, the core urban area in Nanjing presented an obvious intensity variation, but the emission intensities were much lower than in those from the peripheral region where industrial land was mainly distributed. Broad areas away from urban areas, where cropland and rural residential land were distributed, presented low carbon emission intensities. Regionally, the districts in the core urban area always presented high emission intensities. The characteristics of land usage and social-economic development were key factors in determining carbon emissions. An increase in ecological land and a decrease in developed land will help carbon reduction strategies greatly. For social and economic development, adjustments in the structure of industry and energy use efficiency improvements will play key roles in the reduction of carbon emissions.

A Land Use/Land Cover Based Green Development Study for Different Functional Regions in the Jiangsu Province, China.

Land use/land cover (LULC) change can strongly affect carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems. The rapid development of China's economy has formed different functional regions. These functional regions profoundly affect land use patterns. Thus, assessing the carbon storage induced by LULC changes is significant for green development. Selecting the typical region of the Jiangsu Province as the study area, this study first examines the research associated with the regional functional characteristics and various high accuracy data and methods have been used to greatly improve the research accuracy. The results showed that from 1995 to 2015, approximately 10.26% of the entire land area had LULC type changes. Additionally, decreases in the built-up land expansion and ecological land were the main LULC change characteristics, which are mainly affected by socioeconomic development. The total carbon storage of the Jiangsu Province decreased by 714.03 × 104 t and the four regions all presented decreasing carbon storage levels. The economically developed regions presented a more obvious loss of carbon. The region with small LULC changes had a lower carbon loss. The land transfer of cultivated land to built-up land is the main transfer type causing the carbon storage loss. This study investigates the human-environmental interactions from the new perspective of functional zoning and, thus, it enriches the comparative analysis of carbon storage in functional regions and provides references for the green development of a developing country's developed areas.