Abstract: Based on the background of a low-carbon socity and the premise of carbon reduction targets, This article established a provincial horizontal carbon ecological compensation model by constructing the theory framework of ecological compensation, which was set up with the compensation mode, the measurement criteria, the price and a compensation coefficient. Empirical quantitative results for each province showed that: (1)In 2015, the carbon emissions of all provinces (excluding Yunnan Province) in the study area were greater than carbon sinks, and the total net carbon emissions amounted to 2 746 million tons; (2)The spatial distribution of carbon emissions showed a decreasing trend from east to west, and carbon sinks were the main reason for the spatial distribution differences between the carbon intensity of the land and the construction land in all provinces; (3) Carbon emissions of 14 provinces in the region exceeded the ecological compensation threshold by 26.353 million tons, and these provinces needed to pay 16.3 billion yuan at the optimal compensation level.In the meanwhile, 16 provinces had not reached the ecological compensation threshold and could receive compensation of 9.111 billion yuan; (4)Affected by factors such as the level of economic development, the capacity of ecological resources and the targets of carbon emission intensity, the ecological compensation results were spatially homogenous with the economic development, showing an overall distribution of “Eastern pays West”. In the end, the article proposed suggestions on the establishment of provincial horizontal carbon ecological compensation system from the perspectives of building a ecological compensation mode dominated by the central government, setting up carbon revenue and expenditure accounts and improving diversified compensation methods, so as to provide reference for the government to formulate relevant policies.