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

China is undergoing rapidly urbanization process, enlarging the continuous optimization of infrastructure and increasing relevant construction activities sharply, releasing abundant carbon emissions (CEs) subsequently. Understanding the spatial-temporal patterns and changing characteristics is thus a fundamental prerequisite to assess and sustain energy saving and CEs reduction of construction industry (CI) level. Previous studies on carbon emission (CE) of CI however, are often limited to the quantitative level, provincial or local administrative unit scales, lacking relevant studies at the spatial raster resolution scale, due to data gaps. 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, the direct, indirect, and total CEs of CI all showed an increasing trend overall. 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, 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.