The appraisal of low-carbon development to cities along the Yangtze River

The 28 cities in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River can be regarded as an epitome of the cities in eastern, central and western China. Therefore, the low-carbon development level of the cities along the Yangtze River objectively reflects the overall development degree and regional difference of Chinese low-carbon cities. On the basis of analyzing and understanding the connotation of low-carbon cities, this thesis sets up the appraisal index system of low-carbon cities, puts forward the concept of low-carbon index, and conducts a cluster analysis and appraisal to the low-carbon indexes of 28 cities along the Yangtze River through a spatio-temporal path.