Atmospheric carbon inversion for monitoring and assessing urban carbon dioxide emissions

Atmospheric carbon inversion for monitoring and assessing urban carbon dioxide emissions

Wu-di CAO¹^,², Si ZHANG¹^,², Lin WU¹^,^*, Kang SUN³, Yuan-zhe REN⁴, Xing-jun ZHOU⁵, Feng-juan SUN⁶, Ming-ming ZHU¹, Bo YAO⁷, Zi-fa WANG¹^,²^,⁸, Yong-li TIAN⁵

China Environmental Science | 2025, 45(9) : 5277 - 5286

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China Environmental Science | 2025, 45(9): 5277-5286

• Carbon Emission Control •

Atmospheric carbon inversion for monitoring and assessing urban carbon dioxide emissions

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Wu-di CAO¹^,², Si ZHANG¹^,², Lin WU¹^,^*, Kang SUN³, Yuan-zhe REN⁴, Xing-jun ZHOU⁵, Feng-juan SUN⁶, Ming-ming ZHU¹, Bo YAO⁷, Zi-fa WANG¹^,²^,⁸, Yong-li TIAN⁵

Affiliations

^1.Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

^2.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

^3.China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, Beijing 100012, China

^4.Ulanqab Municipal Bureau of Ecological Environment Comprehensive Support Center, Ulanqab 012000, China

^5.Inner Mongolia Environmental Monitoring Station, Hohhot 010011, China

^6.Jinan Environmental Monitoring Center of Shandong Province, Jinan 250101, China

^7.Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences & Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China

^8.Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China

Published: 2025-09-20

Outline

Abstract

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Atmospheric inversion is a key method to estimate urban carbon dioxide emissions for monitoring and assessment purpose. The inversion skills determine not only the assessment accuracy and efficiency, but also whether they can fulfill the demands of carbon managements for the cities to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality (dual carbon pledge). However, despite the recent advances in urban carbon inversions, it is still not well examined in depth and details the current status of the inversion skills and their roles in urban dual carbon managements, taking into account multiple factors including monitoring networks, emission inventories, atmospheric transport and inversion methods. Here, we review the advances of urban carbon inversions and examine inversion performance, highlighting that the improvement of the inversion performance requires coordinated optimization of monitoring networks, prior inventories, and transport models. High-performance inversion systems can provide timely and accurate estimates of urban emissions and identify short-term emission variations, supporting policy assessment and carbon management at urban scale. We further discuss the challenges and possible solutions for improving inversion performance in several Chinese cities, with the aim of providing atmospheric environmental monitoring support for these cities to achieve dual carbon targets.

Key words

carbon peak and carbon neutrality / urban carbon inversion performance / monitoring and assessment of urban carbon emissions / carbon management

Cite this Article

曹无敌, 张思, 吴林, 孙康, 任远哲, 周兴军, 孙凤娟, 朱明明, 姚波, 王自发, 田永莉. 大气碳反演在城市碳排放监测评估中的作用. 中国环境科学, 2025 , 45 (9) : 5277 -5286 .

Wu-di CAO, Si ZHANG, Lin WU, Kang SUN, Yuan-zhe REN, Xing-jun ZHOU, Feng-juan SUN, Ming-ming ZHU, Bo YAO, Zi-fa WANG, Yong-li TIAN. Atmospheric carbon inversion for monitoring and assessing urban carbon dioxide emissions[J]. China Environmental Science, 2025 , 45 (9) : 5277 -5286 .

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Year 2025 volume 45 Issue 9

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Receive Date：2025-02-14
Online Date：2026-10-08
Published：2025-09-20

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Received：2025-02-14

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