The Bibliometric Analysis of Low-Carbon Transition and Public Awareness

Abstract

After the agreements of the Conference of the Parties, more and more countries announced plans to achieve net zero emissions over the coming decades and published new policies in response to the agreements. Public awareness is a crucial factor in achieving the goals of the agreements. Therefore, the study of public awareness/behavior toward the low-carbon transition is important. However, this topic lacks a comprehensive and systematic review. Thus, this study used bibliometric analysis, including performance analysis and scientific mapping analysis, to reveal research trends and clarify the status of studies in low-carbon transition and public awareness. We found that 95% of the literature on this topic was published from 2011 to 2022. Judging from keywords, the hotspots of this topic are “Sustainability”, “Energy Transition”, “Low-carbon Economy”, and “Carbon Emission Reduction”. Regarding the research field transition for this topic, environmental sciences have always been a core subject. Furthermore, economics, management, political science, and sociology have focused on this topic in recent years. Additionally, there are gaps between low-carbon policy and public awareness/behavior. Therefore, the frontier directions of low-carbon transition and public awareness include “low-carbon education”, “policies with specific guidelines”, and “worldwide collaboration”.