Carbon Sinks and Carbon Emissions Discrepancies at Fine Scale for Mega Cities in China

Carbon Sinks and Carbon Emissions Discrepancies at Fine Scale for Mega Cities in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Carbon Sinks and Carbon Emissions Discrepancies at Fine Scale for Mega Cities in China Lixing Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4798221/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Assessing discrepancies between carbon sinks and emissions at the urban scale is crucial for evaluating progress toward carbon neutrality in Chinese cities. Here we developed an integrated model to conduct a high-resolution (250-m, monthly) assessment of carbon emissions and sinks in three mega Chinese city clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta. Our results precisely depicted the seasonal patterns of net carbon emissions (NCE, defined as the difference between carbon emissions and sinks) and various urban carbon dynamics, such as urban villages, industrial zones, green parks. Nearly half of the 48 cities exhibited NCE exceeding 1000 gC∙m−2∙a−1, while only 5 cities function as carbon sinks. The percentage of carbon sinks to emissions in three city clusters ranged from 13–32%, highlighting a significant gap toward achieving carbon neutrality. Our model provides superior resolution and intricate spatial details, offering valuable insights for urban afforestation and emission mitigation policies. Terrestrial Ecology Environmental Policy Geographic Information Systems Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation1.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4798221","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":331455465,"identity":"73425f3d-ec1e-4684-9d88-2eb0708cfc90","order_by":0,"name":"Lixing Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6500-2369","institution":"Tsinghua University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lixing","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-25 01:22:04","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4798221/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4798221/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":61271336,"identity":"38212597-044b-43f3-b2f6-0c69475f3bda","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-29 02:15:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1057334,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4798221/v1_covered_6b12b511-f21d-4e5d-84df-b9ab1ce1d10b.pdf"},{"id":61270864,"identity":"248279f4-af24-4405-a5f1-68b992773d67","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-29 02:07:32","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":2295511,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformation1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4798221/v1/e44a5c0fcb96064d49955774.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCarbon Sinks and Carbon Emissions Discrepancies at Fine Scale for Mega Cities in China\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Tsinghua University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4798221/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4798221/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAssessing discrepancies between carbon sinks and emissions at the urban scale is crucial for evaluating progress toward carbon neutrality in Chinese cities. 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