This paper uses CiteSpace software to draw a knowledge map of authors, institutions and keywords, analyzes 913 academic journals related to "China's carbon emission reduction" published in the core and CSSCI literature databases of Peking University from 2002 to 2021 by CNKI, and combs the research hotspots and trends related to "China's carbon emission reduction". The results show that: (1) the research on carbon emission reduction in China first appeared in 2002, and the number of published documents increased sharply between 2009-2011 and 2019-2021. The school of economics of Zhongnan University of Finance and economics and the Institute of science and technology policy and management of the Chinese Academy of sciences are important institutions studying "China's carbon emission reduction". Wang Zheng, he Jiankun and other experts have significant influence in the field of carbon emission reduction research. (2) China's carbon emission reduction research includes such major topics as "emission reduction cost", "carbon trading", "carbon peaking" and "emission reduction technology". From the perspective of hot spot evolution, the period from 2002 to 2008 belongs to the basic stage of carbon emission reduction research. Scholars began to pay attention to the research on the impact of climate change on carbon emission reduction; From 2008 to 2010, scholars paid more attention to the research of "low-carbon economy" and "low-carbon development"; From 2010 to 2015, scholars paid more attention to the research on "energy intensity" and "hidden carbon"; From 2015 to 2021, scholars paid more attention to the research on carbon trading on the basis of previous studies.