Abstract:the effect of environmental regulation on carbon emission is one of the hot spots in the field of resources and environment. Based on the definition and types of environmental regulation, this paper reviews and summarizes the research progress of the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emission at home and abroad from two aspects of theoretical discussion and empirical test, and puts forward the research prospect of the impact of China"s environmental regulation on carbon emission under the goal of "double carbon". The existing theoretical research focuses on the "forced effect" and "green paradox" of environmental regulation on carbon emissions, and no unanimous conclusion has been reached. How to avoid the "green paradox" and give full play to the "forced effect" of environmental regulation has become the focus of theoretical research in the future. The existing empirical research is carried out from three aspects: the effectiveness of environmental regulation tools, the choice of environmental regulation tools and the impact path of environmental regulation on carbon emissions. Among them, market incentive and non-governmental environmental regulation are the focus of the current research on the effectiveness of environmental regulation tools; When choosing regulatory tools, regional and industrial differences have been paid more and more attention by academic circles; The research on the path of the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions focuses on low-carbon technological innovation, industrial structure and foreign investment. Finally, the future development direction of the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emission is prospected. We believe that the existing research on the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions pays more attention to the causal effect of environmental regulation on carbon emissions, but there is a lack of research on the policy effect and transmission mechanism of environmental regulation; In addition, the formulation of differentiated policies, the collaborative emission reduction of carbon dioxide and other pollutants and the emission reduction of total carbon by environmental regulation are the focus of future research.