Climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization : a bibliometric study from 2006 to 2023

Abstract

Climate change poses a threat to the survival of the human race. Increased interest in climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization and rising recognition of the challenges inherent to highlighting this issue provides the opportunity to carry out a bibliometric study to identify what research can generate ideas regarding climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization. As expected, it may align with the dual goals of the Chinese government agenda in terms of a carbon peak and carbon neutralization in 2030 and 2060, respectively. The recent argument has induced calls for improved transparency and standardization in the approaches adopted to synthesize climate change, carbon peak, and carbon neutralization research. Nevertheless, key questions are still unanswered, namely, what are the key contributions that the research community has produced in relation to climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization? Have their contributions been inclined toward specific geographical areas, directions, and themes? As such, software tools for bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer, and Python were used to conduct a systematic quantitative analysis of the relevant literature on climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization. The results show that carbon peaks and carbon neutralization have received wide attention from academic scholars. In the meantime, China faces the unfolding challenges of economic, technological, and political factors that need to be addressed to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutralization. This study provides policy implications for achieving China’s emission reduction targets.