Carbon emissions are critical to climate change, and land-use change is an essential source of growth in carbon emissions. Research on land-use carbon emissions has become one of the hotspots in academic research. To explore the research hotspots and development trends of land-use carbon emissions in the last 20 years, CiteSpace software was used to conduct a quantitative analysis of relevant literature. This paper was based on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science (WoS) database literature on land-use carbon emissions from 2001 to 2020. The scientific research cooperation network CiteSpace software, with keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and burst word detection, was used to systematically analyze the main research strengths, hotspots and frontiers and clarify the research progress. The research results are as follows: (1) the amount of literature and the depth of research on land-use carbon emissions have increased yearly. However, there is little cooperation between research institutions and scholars, and there is still a lack of large-scale and stable research teams. (2) At the research hotspot level, the English literature focuses on building models and theoretical frameworks to study the internal mechanisms and driving factors of carbon emissions and climate change. The Chinese literature focuses on achieving regional carbon emissions reductions and carbon cycle goals and optimizing a low-carbon economy, transportation and land-use structure. (3) Research frontiers and trends show that the English literature first explored carbon sequestration, organic carbon, and carbon accounting. In China, the research frontiers are gradually becoming focused on influencing factors, decoupling analysis, and the built environment. The study will strengthen the intensity and depth of global carbon emission research and provide a reference for improving global climate change, protecting ecology and balancing economic development.

Land-use change and regional carbon emissions are closely related. In-depth research on the mechanism of land-use carbon emissions is conducive for clarifying the direction and focus of future low-carbon construction work. Carbon emissions calculation models were used to calculate total carbon emissions in Guizhou Province and reveal their spatiotemporal distribution characteristics. The results were as follows. (1) The land-use structure of Guizhou Province underwent a significant change from 2009 to 2019, in particular with regard to cultivated and construction land. (2) Land-use carbon emissions in Guizhou Province were increasing annually, and this was related to urbanization, population density, and energy consumption. (3) There were spatial differences in the regional distribution of carbon emissions, their intensity, and carbon emissions per capita in Guizhou Province. Additionally, there were spatial clusters of cities with high or low emissions intensity. Therefore, there is scope for constructive proposals concerning sustainable land use and development, such as controlling the total amount and intensity of construction land, optimizing the structure of land use, managing the rational distribution of the population, constantly advancing the optimization of industrial structure, and improving the relevant policies.