Topic: Territorial-space Carbon Footprints under Carbon Neutrality: Accounting, Simulation, and Decision Support

Territorial space is a spatial complex that integrates natural ecosystems with socioeconomic systems and possesses the dual attributes of carbon sources and carbon sinks. Its underlying characteristics, development intensity, and spatial allocation patterns fundamentally influence regional carbon cycling processes. Accounting for and simulating territorial carbon footprints are therefore of great theoretical and practical significance for optimizing territorial spatial allocation and enhancing the capacity of territorial space to respond to climate change.

Accurate accounting and effective management of territorial carbon footprints are essential for achieving carbon neutrality. Land use, industrial development, urban growth, and resource consumption all influence regional carbon emissions and carbon sinks. However, challenges remain in carbon accounting, cross-sector resource interactions, emission forecasting, and low-carbon spatial planning. This Special Issue aims to showcase recent advances in territorial carbon footprint assessment, carbon emission simulation, and decision support. It welcomes studies on land-use carbon emissions, water–land–energy–carbon interactions, regional carbon transfer, carbon emission efficiency, and land-use optimization. Contributions addressing scenario analysis, carbon reduction pathways, and integrated resource management are also encouraged to support low-carbon development and evidence-based territorial spatial planning.

Key Topics

● Multiscale territorial carbon accounting: methodological innovations and empirical applications;

● Territorial carbon footprint flows and mechanisms of interregional carbon transfer;

● Simulation of territorial carbon budgets and regulation of carbon balance;

● Low-carbon territorial spatial optimization under carbon neutrality targets;

● Water–land–energy–carbon nexus processes and their footprint effects in territorial space;

● Early warning of territorial carbon emission risks and decision support for low-carbon development;

● Blue carbon footprint accounting and carbon sink enhancement pathways from an integrated land–sea perspective;

● Trade-offs and synergies between territorial carbon footprints and ecosystem services, and ecological compensation mechanisms;

● Digital twin- and artificial intelligence-driven dynamic monitoring and decision support for territorial carbon footprints.