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Cities are a major source of energy use and greenhouse gases emissions, as well as being at the core of the climate change mitigation. With the Revitalizing Old Industrial Base of Northeast China strategy, Northeast China has been a typical developing region with rapid industrialization and urbanization accompanied by substantial energy consumption and carbon emissions. Therefore, northeastern Chinese cities should play an important role in regional lowcarbon developments. This study presents several improvements to previous method to improve the accuracy of the results. Using the modified method, for the first time, we compile carbon emission inventories for 30 cities in Northeast China based on fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. The results indicate that Anshan emitted the most carbon emissions annually, followed by Benxi and the vice-provincial cities (including Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian and Harbin). In 2012, the total carbon emissions of the 30 cities amounted to 973.95 million tonnes, accounting for 9.71% and 2.75% of national and global carbon emissions, respectively. Most of the CO2 emissions of these cities were from the 'nonmetal and metal industry' and 'energy production and supply'. Raw coal was the primary source of carbon emissions in Northeast China, and industrial processes also played a significant role in determining the carbon emissions. Additionally, both the average per capita carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity in the 30 cities were higher than the national levels. According to the differences in carbon emissions characteristics, we present several policy recommendations for carbon mitigation for northeastern Chinese cities. This study provides consistent and comparable spatial-temporal city-level emission database for further research on relationships between economic development and environmental protection in Northeast China.Simultaneously, this study provides practical reference values for other developing regions throughout the world to create low-carbon road maps. Highlights: CO2 inventories of 30 cities in Northeast China were compiled for the first time. We presented several improvements to previous method to improve the accuracy. 973.95 million tonnes were emitted in 2012 accounting for 9.71% of national levels. Anshan emitted the most CO2 followed by Benxi and the vice-provincial cities. Both the average per capita CO2 and CO2 intensity were higher than national levels.

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The CO2 emission-mitigation policies adopted in different Chinese cities are important for achieving national emission-mitigation targets. China faces enormous inequalities in terms of regional economic development and urbanization, with some cities growing rapidly, while others are shrinking. This study selects 280 cities in China and divides them into two groups of growing cities and two groups of shrinking cities. This is achieved using an index called “urban development degree,” which is calculated based on economic, demographic, social, and land-use indicators. Then, the 280 cities’ CO2 emission characteristics are examined, and extended STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology) is used to verify the influencing factors. We find that rapidly growing cities (RGCs) present a trend of fluctuating growth in CO2 emissions, rapidly shrinking cities (RSCs) show an inverted U-shaped trend, and slightly growing (SGCs) and slightly shrinking cities (SSCs) show a trend of rising first, followed by steady development. Moreover, for growing cities, the population, economy, and proportion of tertiary industry have positive effects on carbon emissions, while technology has negative effects. For shrinking cities, the population and economy have significant positive effects on carbon emissions, while technology and the proportion of tertiary industry have negative effects.

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