Comparative Analysis of Research Trends and Hotspots of Foreign and Chinese Building Carbon Emissions Based on Bibliometrics

Abstract

The construction industry has great potential for carbon emission reduction, which strongly impacts the peak of carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. This paper compares foreign and Chinese articles on building carbon emissions from publication objects, journals, subject categories, authors, and institutions. It discusses the differences in research trends and hotspots from keywords, reference co-citation analysis, and historical citation analysis. The results show that the number of publications on building carbon emissions steadily increased. The research on building carbon emissions in foreign articles is earlier and more systematic than that in China, and the output and influence of foreign articles are generally more prominent than those of Chinese articles. However, the production and influence of articles by certain Chinese authors and institutions have been remarkable. The topics of ‘CO2 emission’, ‘life-cycle assessment’, ‘environmental impact’, ‘greenhouse gas emission’, and ‘renewable energy’ are essential subjects for foreign and Chinese articles in the research field of building carbon emissions and the development trend is similar. The thematic direction of Chinese articles is more divergent and lacks well-developed themes that greatly influence other research themes. Finally, based on the research results, this study puts forward the potential future research direction of building carbon emissions. The results of this study will provide a current and systematic overview of this field, which will be helpful for future researchers to promote the development of research on building carbon emissions.