The carbon stock in terrestrial ecosystems is closely linked to changes in land use. Understanding how land use alterations affect regional carbon stocks is essential for maintaining the carbon balance of ecosystems. This research leverages land use and driving factor data spanning from 2000 to 2020, utilizing the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model alongside the InVEST ecosystem services model to examine the temporal and spatial changes in carbon storage across Beijing. Additionally, four future scenes for 2030—urban development, natural development, cropland protection, as well as eco-protection—are explored, with the PLUS and InVEST models employed to emulate dynamic land use changes and the corresponding carbon stock variations. The results show that the following: (1) Between 2000 and 2020, changes in land use resulted in a significant decline in carbon storage, with a total reduction of 1.04 × 10⁷ tons. (2) From 2000 to 2020, agricultural, forest, and grassland areas in Beijing all declined to varying extents, while built-up land expanded by 1292.04 km² (7.88%), with minimal changes observed in water bodies or barren lands. (3) Compared to the carbon storage distribution in 2020, carbon storage in the 2030 urban development scenario decreased by 6.99 × 10⁶ tons, highlighting the impact of rapid urbanization and the expansion of built-up areas on the decline in carbon storage. (4) In the ecological protection scenario, the optimization of land use structure resulted in an increase of 6.01 × 10⁵ tons in carbon storage, indicating that the land use allocation in this scenario contributes to the restoration of carbon storage and enhances the carbon sink capacity of the urban ecosystem. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers in optimizing ecosystem carbon storage from a land use perspective and offers essential guidance for the achievement of the “dual carbon” strategic objectives.

To cope with the future global extreme high temperatures, three adaptation strategies of green roofs, cool walls, and cool streets are constructed by applying rooftop vegetation planting and building materials of high reflectivity in cities. Hence, there is an urgent need to test these adaptation strategies. This study quantifies the performance of adaptation strategies for mitigating extreme heat in China under the future urbanization and climate conditions using a numerical model. Results are validated using observation data from 839 national meteorological stations in China. Simulation results show that implementing all three adaptation measures will decrease the heat exposure rate by 9.4% by enhancing ground reflection and lowering urban temperature. The contribution of enhancing the albedo of the building walls to reducing exposure is 1.5 times that of using roof planting. These adaptation strategies can reduce urban heat storage, but they may exacerbate urban water vapor accumulation. Most risks are concentrated on the southeast side of the Heihe‐Tengchong Line. The urban geographical locations and population will influence the cooling effect of adaptation strategies. The cool walls have greater cooling effects in southern cities, whereas green roofs are more effective in northern regions. Applying cool walls strategy in densely populated areas of urban buildings can achieve the best cooling effects. When deploying adaptation strategies, not only the cooling capacity but also the climate and development conditions of different cities are necessary to be considered.