Tracking social hotspots and public concerns on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China

Since China's dual carbon goals, also known as carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, were put forward in 2020, the related news hotspots have gradually received the public's attention. Focusing on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, this study attempts to conduct visual analyses and identify social hotspots based on Weibo data crawling, co-word network drawing, and latent Dirichlet allocation. The results showed that social attention to dual-carbon goals has increased significantly, especially concerning carbon neutrality rather than carbon peaking. When compared, carbon peaking's Weibo hotspots are more concentrated in specific fields such as clean energy and energy storage, while those of carbon neutrality are more inclined to international consensus, public appeal, and environmental protection. Some social hotspots also reflected dual-carbon related concerns such as coal burning, unapproved policies, insufficient technology maturity, and imperfect supporting systems, making it possible to promptly track public concerns to be solved. Based on Weibo data crawling, this study plays a crucial role in identifying social hotspots and grasping public concerns accurately, which provides practical suggestions and implications for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China. •Social attention to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality increased significantly.•Python scripts were used to crawl the data from Weibo posts within China.•Hot topics and public opinions related to dual carbon goals could be identified.•Social concern crawling could promote the achievement of dual-carbon goals.