Abstract: The spatial distribution characteristics of key emission units are of great significance to the ecological and environmental departments in formulating the supervision policies for national carbon market data quality, but the current knowledge of these characteristics is still limited. Taking the distribution of key emission units in administrative regions as the research object, and the spatial agglomeration characteristics of key emission units were explored using global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis. Various regions were identified by the spatial clustering method, and control measures were discussed in the context of socioeconomic development, electricity consumption, industrial structure, and other factors. The findings demonstrated that the distribution of key emission units was more concentrated in east and north China, with clear signs of positive spatial autocorrelation at the city and county scales. The results also demonstrated that both high high and low low agglomeration exhibited continuous distribution, with high high agglomeration mainly distributed in areas with abundant coal resources and developed economies. The cities in China were classified into seven regions based on the quantity of key emissionunits and carbon emission-related factors. Region 1 was dominated by the northwest region. Region 2 included parts of Shanxi, Shaanxi, as well as central and eastern Ningxia, northern Xinjiang, and eastern Inner Mongolia. Regions 3, 4, 5 and 6 were primarily found in northeast, north, east, and southwest China, respectively. Region 7 was mostly in the center and south of China. The accuracy of data on carbon emissions could be rapidly evaluated by comparing coal quality parameters between local mines and key emission units in Regions 1, 2 and 6. The distinction between local and imported coal in Regions 3 and 4 could help to categorize and regulate the key emission units, while Regions 5 and 7 should pay close attention to the effects of coal sources on carbon emissions. Additionally, basic capacity building for carbon emission supervision in the concentrated regions of key emission units should be enhanced, and help for carbon emission data quality management should be offered to key emission units in socioeconomically backward areas.