Abstract: With more and more concern from all countries in the world given to the environment problem of the climate warming，the carbon emissions have become the focus of academic research. This article collects and analyzes the related literatures at home and abroad from four areas：calculation and decomposition method of carbon emissions，affecting factors of carbon emissions，research of carbon emissions of different sections and reduction measures of carbon emission. At present，the calculation and decomposition methods of carbon emissions have been diversified. Because the measuring methods are different and the standards of carbon emission coefficient are not unified，the results of carbon emissions calculation are not consistent，which affects their practical values. The main influence factors of carbon emissions include economic growth，population，industrial structure，energy structure and efficiency，international trade，foreign direct investment etc. About carbon emissions of different sections，the early researches mainly focus on industry，and then expand to agriculture，transportation，construction，consumption etc. The countermeasures to reduce carbon emission include setting up the legal system for low-carbon economic development，actively exploiting clean energy，energetically developing low carbon technology，providing funds and policy support for low carbon development etc. In the future，China's carbon emissions research should pay attention to the following points：（1） The relevant departments should strengthen energy statistics work，formulate scientific carbon emissions defined standards，establish a complete carbon emissions monitoring system；（2） To pay attention to the research on construction，transportation，commercial and individual consumption and so on；（3） To probe the characteristics of carbon emission and its causes in different areas，and build the regional carbon emissions trading mechanism and low-carbon technology cooperation and exchange mechanism；（4） To carry out the multi-disciplinary joint research，deeply probe influence factors of carbon emission，mechanism and evolution process and propose scientific and reasonable carbon emission reducing policy.

Key words: carbon emissions, low carbon economy, review