Carbon Footprints (CF) is an international, gold open-access journal dedicated to advancing quantitative and interdisciplinary understanding of carbon and pollutant emissions, low-carbon technologies, and pathways toward net-zero and carbon-neutral systems. The journal focuses on the sources, flows, footprints, impacts, and mitigation of greenhouse gases and air pollutants across ecosystems, urban environments, industrial systems, and economic sectors.

The journal particularly welcomes research on ecosystem carbon dynamics, urban decarbonization, low-carbon energy and industrial transformation, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and integrated carbon-management pathways. Contributions should reveal fundamental processes, develop innovative methodologies or technologies, or provide system-level insights with broad relevance beyond individual case studies.

The journal is organized around four interconnected areas:

1. Ecosystem & Natural-System Footprints

• Land-use and land-cover change and their impacts on greenhouse-gas and air-pollutant emissions
• Agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) as carbon sources and sinks
• Blue carbon, coastal and marine carbon sequestration, and ecosystem carbon dynamics
• Nature-based carbon removal, ecosystem restoration, and carbon sequestration
• Carbon–water–energy interactions in natural and managed ecosystems
• Water-resource management under carbon-neutral and climate-resilient pathways
• Climate change impacts on ecosystem carbon stocks, fluxes, and services

2. Urban & Built-Environment Systems

• Urban carbon and air-pollutant accounting using big data, AI, and digital technologies
• Urban energy systems and low-carbon energy transitions
• Mobility, transportation, and infrastructure emissions
• Low-carbon buildings, construction, and built-environment design
• Urban resilience and pathways toward net-zero cities
• Waste, wastewater, and food-system footprints in urban environments
• Integrated assessment of urban carbon, energy, and environmental systems

3. Industrial & Energy Systems

• Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and carbon-management technologies
• Carbon capture, including post-combustion, pre-combustion, oxy-fuel, direct air capture, and emerging capture processes
• CO₂utilization for fuels, chemicals, materials, and other value-added products
• Geological carbon storage, including storage capacity, permanence, leakage, monitoring, and risk assessment
• Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and negative-emission technologies
• Life-cycle assessment and carbon-footprint assessment of CCUS, CDR, and low-carbon technologies
• Techno-economic and environmental assessment of carbon-management pathways
• Low-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen-based energy systems, including green hydrogen, hydrogen storage and transport, hydrogen–natural gas integration, green ammonia, and ammonia fuels
• Industrial decarbonization, process innovation, and energy-efficiency improvement
• Circular economy, resource efficiency, recycling, and industrial waste management
• Carbon and pollutant footprints across industrial and energy supply chains
• Integrated pathways toward industrial net-zero and carbon neutrality

4. Environmental & Resource Economics

• Economic assessment of carbon mitigation, energy conservation, and pollution-control strategies
• Carbon pricing, emissions trading, subsidies, regulations, and other climate policies
• Economic and policy evaluation of low-carbon energy transitions
• Techno-economic assessment of carbon capture, utilization, storage, and removal technologies
• Economic implications of carbon mitigation across energy, transport, agriculture, industry, and urban systems
• Interdisciplinary analysis of the interactions among carbon emissions, environmental impacts, economic development, and resource use

The journal also welcomes cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary studies addressing interactions among carbon emissions, energy use, air pollutants, technologies, ecosystems, urban systems, and economic or policy factors. Particular interest is given to research that advances credible, scalable, and measurable pathways toward net-zero emissions and sustainable low-carbon transformation.