Abstract: Embodied carbon is the sum of direct and indirect carbon emissions in the entire life cycle of products and services. Research on the flow characteristics of embodied carbon in the industrial system and the study on the position and role of different industrial sectors in the carbon emission relationship network is of great significance to the decomposition of carbon emission reduction responsibility, the formulation of carbon emission accounting standards, the establishment of carbon traceability mechanism and the formulation of carbon emission reduction plans. Based on the input-output tables in 2018, the embodied carbon flow of industrial sectors was calculated, a flow network related to embodied carbon in the industrial system was built by applying the theory and method of social network analysis, and the characteristics of the implicit carbon flow relationship between industrial sectors, the core sectors and clustering features were analyzed. The main conclusions were as follows: 1) The embodied carbon flow in the production process accounted for about 85.12% of the total direct carbon emissions, and electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry, metal mining and processing industry, and textile industry took the lead in the proportion of embodied carbon inflow, outflow and retention, respectively. 2) An embodied carbon flow network had been formed among industrial sectors, and the inter-departments were closely linked. The changes in carbon emissions in one industrial sector would drive changes in the entire industrial system. 3) Chemical product manufacturing industry, electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industry, and transportation, warehousing and postal services industry were the core sectors in the network, with strong control and influence over other sectors. The embodied carbon transmission paths of metal mining, non-metal mining and other mining and processing industries to other sectors were shorter, and had higher embodied carbon flow efficiency. 4) There were obvious clustering characteristics among industrial sectors. The regulators centered on the chemical product manufacturing industry, and the direct carbon emission providers centered on the petroleum coking products and nuclear fuel processing industries played a role in balancing the embodied carbon flow of the entire industrial system. The industrial sectors centered on the construction industry and other service industries were the receivers of embodied carbon, while the industrial sectors centered on the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water were the suppliers of embodied carbon.