Scientometric investigations on dual carbon research: Revealing advancements, key areas, and future outlook

The dual carbon goal is a systematic project involving the entire society and has a leading and systematic role in the green and low-carbon development of China. In this study, we used the CiteSpace software to visualize and analyze 5809 documents from the core database of Web of Science from 1995 to 2023, covering four aspects: descriptive statistics, network collaboration, research hotspots, and thematic evolution analysis. The number of studies in the field of dual carbon is in an explosive growth stage and China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have become the core country and institution for research, respectively, in this field. Major high-impact journals include Cleaner Production, Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review, Applied Energy, and Energy Policy. Relevant research has mainly focused on carbon neutralization, CO₂ emissions, impact factors, energy, and emission reduction performance. Research hotspots primarily include carbon dioxide electrocatalytic reduction technology, sustainable energy transition strategies, and green financial policy tools. The government should further support for the research and development of carbon-neutral technologies, particularly for the industrialization and application of CO₂ electrocatalytic reduction technology. Meanwhile, investment in renewable energy should be increased to optimize the energy structure and promote energy transition. In addition, green financial policy tools must be improved to promote the healthy development of the green financial market. The transparency and efficiency of the carbon trading market can be improved using digital technology and big data analysis, thus promoting the deep integration of the digital economy, with the goal of carbon neutrality.