Mapping the spatial-temporal changes in energy consumption-related carbon emissions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region via nighttime light data

The increase in carbon emissions exacerbates global warming and seriously threatens the sustainable development of human society. In China, energy statistics frequently suffer from missing and inconsistent data at the municipal or county level. Therefore, in the absence of statistical data, this study proposes a method of coupling nighttime light and energy consumption to invert carbon emissions at the grid scale, with high accuracy, which is suitable for spatial applications in developing countries in the context of the lack of energy-related carbon emission monitoring. We observed a good one-variable linear correlation between nighttime light and regional carbon emissions, with an average relative accuracy of 96.00%. The total carbon emission in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei changed from 231 million tons in 2000 to 535 million tons in 2020. The overall carbon emission showed a "γ-shaped" pattern, with several high-density carbon emission centers. The hot spots spread from inland to the Bohai Coast and were concentrated in the "Beijing corridor Tianjin Tang", whereas the cold spots were mainly distributed in the northwest. The center of gravity of carbon emission shifted to the northeast, and Beijing and Tianjin considerably impacted the regional changes.