Nowadays, the global CO₂ emissions have seriously exceeded the standard, and the resulting greenhouse effect has seriously affected people's production and life. Collecting and capturing CO₂ in the atmosphere through vegetation photosynthesis is an important means to achieve the goal of carbon neutralization. Most of the studies focus on the current strength of vegetation carbon sequestration capacity, while there are few studies on the vegetation carbon sequestration potential. In fact, the improvement potential of vegetation carbon sequestration capacity also has important guiding significance for the goal of carbon neutralization. Therefore, this paper constructs the spatial distribution results of national Net Primary Productivity(NPP) maximum potential based on remote sensing observation product GLASS NPP and Miami climate model from 1982 to 2017. By comparing with the actual monitored NPP in 2017, two different national vegetation carbon sequestration potential results are calculated. In order to compare the spatial heterogeneity of the results. The spatial distribution characteristics of the two results are analyzed respectively, and the differences of the spatial distribution of cold and hot spots are compared. Finally, the results are superimposed and compared with the key ecologically functional areas currently planned in China, provide scientific basis for national policy-making. The following main conclusions are drawn:(1) The overall spatial distribution trend of the national vegetation carbon sequestration potential obtained by the two methods is high in the south and low in the north. The spatial distribution characteristics show high spatial autocorrelation characteristics (The main performance is spatial positive correlation, manifested as high-high aggregation and low-low aggregation), but the local difference is large. (2) Based on the method of remote sensing observation as the maximum potential value, the national vegetation carbon sequestration potential hot spots areas are concentrated in three regions, which are distributed in Sichuan Province, Guangdong Province, Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province, respectively. Based on the climate model simulation as the maximum potential value, the hot spots of vegetation carbon sequestration potential are mainly distributed in eight southern provinces with Jiangxi Province, Guangdong Province and Guangxi Province as the core. Both results show the characteristics of high spatial aggregation (3) At present, the carbon fixation potential of key ecological functional areas in China is not prominent, so it is suggested that relevant departments should also consider this aspect in the future policy-making process. In general, this paper can provide a reference for the related research of vegetation carbon sequestration level and the realization of carbon neutralization goal in China.