Study on the evaluation system of urban low carbon communities in Guangdong province

•Monte Carlo simulation was applied to optimize the AHP method.•The reference values of evaluation indices were determined in two zones.•The OAT method was applied to differentiate the sensitivity of the indices.•Detailed evaluation regulations were laid down for the evaluation system.

In recent years, China has been gradually consolidating the establishment of Low Carbon Communities (LCC) to minimize the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses. Guangdong Province, as one of the low-carbon pilot provinces, has also paid great attention to the building of LCC. However, currently Guangdong province, or even China as a whole, has no official evaluation system in place which can be employed to evaluate the degree of low carbon of urban LCC. This paper aimed to establish a system for evaluating the urban LCC of Guangdong Province based on their actual situations. The system divided the evaluation into six categories, applied the SMART criteria to select suitable indices, and set the reference values for two zones, i.e., the Pearl River Delta zone (PRD) and the non-PRD zone. Monte Carlo and AHP were combined for the calculation of index weights, thus ensuring that the weight judgment matrixes could all pass the consistency check. In addition, this paper also laid down detailed evaluation regulations to improve the operability of this system and guarantee its wide application and better generalization. Finally, one typical urban community was selected to test the operability of this system, and the One-At-a-Time (OAT) method was used to analyze the sensitivity of each index and explore the degree of influence of these indices on evaluation results. The results showed that three indicators corresponding to green building percentage, new energy vehicles percentage and low carbon public transportation had the highest sensitivity. After field test evaluation, the evaluation system was found to have strong operability, and a high accessibility to indicator data. This system cannot only be used as a tool by the Provincial People's Government of Guangdong to evaluate the construction progress and degree of low carbon in LCC, but can also provide a reference point and experience for the Chinese government to draw upon in establishing the evaluation system of LCC at a national level.