Abstract: It is a key issue in achieving the sustainable development goals that to deal with climate change, in which clarifying carbon emission responsibility is one of the difficulties. In order to provide a scientific theoretical basis for clarifying the responsibility of carbon emission and allocating carbon emission space reasonably, this paper provides a comprehensive review on the literature of the accounting of carbon emission responsibility from different perspectives, and analyzes the research status and trends of development in this field, and probes into the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Our study showed that most of the research on the accounting of carbon emission responsibility is from a single point of view, whereas each method has certain limitations. Such as production-based accounting method will lead to “carbon leakage” and consumption-based and income-based accounting method may weaken the driving force of carbon emission reduction of other subjects which should take responsibilities. The accounting method from the perspective of sharing responsibility develops rapidly, but it has not yet formed recognized scientific criteria of assessment, it needs further development. On the basis of the above research, we put forward some prospects for the future research. Firstly, expand the carbon responsibility accounting system with multi principles integration. For example, the principles of minimum carbon emissions demand and exempting carbon sinks should be included in the accounting system when calculating the responsibility of carbon emission at the provincial level. Secondly, innovate the carbon emission responsibility accounting scheme that shared by multiple responsible subjects. To some extent, it can make up for the limitations of a single accounting perspective, which has important practical value for balancing regional carbon emission responsibility and improving the overall efficiency of carbon emission reduction. Thirdly, explore the combination of the accounting of carbon emission responsibility and the allocation of carbon emission allowance. It is of great significance for breaking down the targets of carbon emission reduction scientifically.