With the accelerating climate change,the carbon emission and its influence are paid more and more attention.This paper calculated the carbon emissions from energy consumption covered 30 provinces from 2000 to 2015,and analyzed the regional characteristics and spatial-temporal differences of carbon emissions in China.Based on the STIRPAT model and panel data model,the driving factors of carbon emissions were analyzed from two perspectives of carbon emissions and carbon intensity.The study found that,at the national level,the population scale,per capita GDP,energy intensity and urbanization level have positive driving effect,and 1% increase in each factor,the carbon emissions will be increased by 1.046 9%,0.938 6%,0.722 6%,0.411 6%,respectively.However the industrial structure has negative effect on carbon emissions.For carbon intensity,per capita GDP and industrial structure have negative inhibitory effect.At the regional level,three economic regions of the East,Middle and West regions of China were defined by grouping the individual areas based on their economic level.Due to the difference of economic development level,the effects of each factor on carbon emissions were also different and show a certain regularity.The grouping by urbanization level showed that carbon emissions have been decreased along with the increase of urbanization level.This study provided a reference for the government to make a reasonable and differentiated policy about CO_2 emission reduction based on the region.