This paper evaluates the low-carbon development of 176 Chinese cities in 2018 using the Low-carbon City Evaluation Indicator System developed by Research Institute for Eco-civilization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The evaluation shows an overall improvement of low-carbon development of cities in China, with 10 cities scoring 90 points and above, and 106 cities scoring 80–89 points. From the perspective of city category, the low-carbon development scores present an order as follows: service-oriented cities>comprehensive cities>ecology-prioritized cities>industrial cities. Geologically speaking, eastern cites perform best, western cities come second and central cities come last. Of the three batches of low-carbon city pilots, the scores follow the pattern of Batch 1>Batch 2>Batch 3. Most cities are characterized by high carbon consumption and reduced efforts in low-carbon management and capital investment. Finally, this paper proposes to attach more importance to low-carbon development and strengthen capacity building for low-carbon governance; intensify efforts for constructing low-carbon pilots in order to help achieve the goal of carbon emission peak during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period; and to improve the Low-carbon City Evaluation Indicator System.
