Abstract: The tunnel construction consumes resources and energy and emits a large amount of greenhouse gases into the environment. Through the longterm exploration of tunnel carbon emission, the current research progress of China′s highway tunnel carbon emission calculation, inventory data, impact mechanism and emission prediction are summarized resulting from difficult collection of tunnel carbon emission calculation data and difficult estimation of tunnel carbon emission. Firstly, the calculation methods of carbon emission during tunnel construction are introduced by investigating the literatures about tunnel construction carbon emission calculation in China and abroad. And then the calculation methods of using data inventory and emission coefficients to evaluate carbon emission during tunnel construction are illustrated with an example, and the contribution of different construction procedures, materials and energy to carbon emission is clarified. In addition, based on a large number of calculation results of tunnel construction emissions, statistical analysis is used to explore the influencing factors of the carbon emissions during tunnel construction, and the linear regression method is used to establish the prediction equations. Finally, in view of the two major problems in the current calculation of tunnel carbon emissions, i.e. difficulty of obtaining basic inventory data of tunnel emissions and difficulty of emission data to circulate among different departments and enterprises, it is proposed to develop resource and energy measurement and block chain technology to promote the sustainable development of energy conservation and emission reduction in the tunnel industry.

Key words: tunnel construction, carbon emission calculation, inventory data, emission coefficient method