Trade-off between vegetation CO2 sequestration and fossil fuel-related CO2 emissions: A case study of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area of China

Abstract Carbon neutrality has attracted tremendous attention. Cities contribute the most to CO2 emissions. However, the contribution of vegetation to fossil-fuel-related CO2 emissions in urban agglomeration is unclear. Clarifying the trade-off role of vegetation can disaggregate carbon reduction targets down to sub-units to adapt to and even mitigate global warming. In this study, the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, was studied using our proposed inter-calibration method. The results showed that the inter-calibration method is satisfactory and that the EANTLI model effectively decreases the blooming and saturation effects of nighttime light. In addition, fossil-fuel-related CO2 emissions increased significantly (P