Carbon equity, as a key issue in addressing climate change and achieving sustainable development, has received significant attention from the international community in recent years.This study utilizes articles on carbon equity from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2024, in the Web of Science (WoS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases as the dataset.Employing CiteSpace knowledge graph and bibliometric topic evolution methods, it systematically examines the current status, research hotspots, and development trends of carbon equity research.The findings show that the volume of publications in this area is growing rapidly, making it an increasingly interdisciplinary research domain.The most active authors and leading institutions are based in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.The research focus has broadened to cover carbon emission rights allocation, carbon footprint tracking, equitable carbon reduction responsibility, carbon trading market design and implementation, and connections with sustainable development and climate change.Using case studies, this work highlights practical applications and stresses the need for integrating knowledge across disciplines.Future research directions are likely to explore deeper theoretical foundations and actionable strategies, develop evaluation frameworks, optimize and balance influencing factors, and inform policy decisions.Greater attention may be directed toward comprehensive carbon reduction and compensation approaches, advancing the sustainable development goal of global carbon equity.