China’s City-level CO2 emissions from power sector between 2000 and 2019

The power sector is a major contributor to global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, China’s power sector accounted for over 40% of national carbon emissions, underscoring the importance of its decarbonization for achieving global climate targets. Effective emission-reduction policies require detailed and reliable carbon data. Given China’s “top-down” target-setting system, accurate regional data are essential for designing differentiated local policies and evaluating their effectiveness. In this study, we systematically estimate CO 2 emissions from the power sector in 352 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2019, providing broader spatial and temporal coverage than existing datasets. Using a particle swarm optimization–back propagation algorithm, we established relationships among provincial and prefectural power generation, socioeconomic indicators, and operating revenue for the electricity and heat production and supply sectors. City-level power generation was derived based on provincial training results, combined with the 2021 electricity CO 2 emissions factor published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the National Bureau of Statistics, providing a valuable foundation for regional low-carbon research and policymaking.