Based on the CiteSpace visualization technology of Bibliometrics software, the paper selects the core collection of “ Web of ScienceTM ( SCI / SSCI / AHCI / CPCI )” as the data source and the 2327 literatures on carbon emission rights from 1990 to 2016 as the research object to analyze the literature basis of carbon emission rights, research hotspot and development trend. The results indicate that in recent years, the research on international carbon emission rights has shown a strong tendency to apply quantitative tools and algorithms to practice; on the basis of the statistical analysis of high-frequency keywords, construction and simulation of carbon emission allocation and trading model the paper provides a theoretical basis and decision-making support for the formulation of carbon emission-related policies, which will still be the research hotspot in the future with China as the research object; nearly three decades, the research into international carbon emission rights is divided into four stages of development, from the awakening period of carbon emissions research consciousness in the first stage to the depth of carbon emissions research in the fourth stage, the concept of construction of carbon emission rights system gradually becomes clear and the method of carbon emission intensity analysis gradually becomes expanded, which is an important manifestation of inheritance and innovation in the evolution of the research on international carbon emission rights. And it is also an important reference for China to promote low-carbon development and build ecological civilization.