Background: Global temperatures may rise by 4–8 °C by the century’s end due to greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the need to reduce carbon emissions. Given the construction industry’s 39% share of global CO₂ emissions, this study uses bibliometric analysis to evaluate existing research, identify gaps and trends, and support future studies and policies that promote low-carbon, sustainable development in the construction sector.
Methods: The analysis covers all documents on carbon emissions indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection from 2015 to 2024, examining aspects such as document type, year of publication, WoS Core Collection subject classification, top publications, co-authors, subject classification via coupling and word co-occurrence networks, and citations.
Results: Publications on carbon emissions in the construction industry have increased rapidly, peaking in 2023. Most studies are articles, with China leading in output. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the leading institution. Research mainly falls under “Green & Sustainable Science & Technology,” with the Journal of Cleaner Production publishing the most articles. The dominant theme is “urbanization and carbon emission.”
Conclusion: The research highlights a growing global emphasis on reducing carbon emissions in the construction sector, primarily driven by related industrial activities such as fossil fuel use for energy, transportation, manufacturing, and heating. Despite increased attention to sustainability, key gaps persist across energy management, life-cycle assessment, carbon capture, and socio-economic policy impacts. These gaps may be due to the complex, interdisciplinary nature of energy-related topics, making them harder to address comprehensively.