[Objective]The Yellow River Basin is regarded as an important "energy basin" in China, spatial differences and dynamic evolution of carbon ecological security are analyzed to optimize the overall layout of carbon ecological security in the entire basin. [Methods]It constructs an evaluation index system for carbon ecological security in the Yellow River Basin under the framework of Driving-Pressure-State-Impact-Response（DPSIR）analysis. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution（TOPSIS） model is used to evaluate the level of carbon ecological security, and the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics are analyzed by kernel density estimation method. [Results](1)the carbon sinks and the carbon emissions have increased from 2012 to 2021in the Yellow River Basin, and the growth rate of carbon emissions is faster than that of carbon sinks. From a spatial perspective, carbon sinks have the characteristic of “high in the west and low in the east”, while carbon emissions have the characteristic of “low in the west and high in the east”. (2)The carbon ecological security level in the Yellow River Basin has been increasing year by year, from 0.356 in 2012 to 0.639 in 2021. In terms of spatial distribution, the carbon ecological security level in the upstream region is higher than that in the middle and downstream regions, which is characterized by “upstream leading, midstream catching up, and downstream surpassing”. In addition, the level of carbon ecological security tends to be good. (3)Based on the results of kernel density estimation, the differences in carbon security levels among regions in the Yellow River Basin are gradually narrowing, and which in the upstream region are decreasing faster than those in the middle and downstream regions. [Conclusion]Based on the current status of carbon ecological security in the Yellow River Basin, carbon sinks capacity in the upstream region would be continued to enhance, while technology-intensive industries with high added value and clean energy industries would be developed to promote green GDP growth in the middle and downstream regions. In addition, carbon ecological compensation mechanism is established to coordinate relation about carbon ecological security among different regions, and improve the carbon ecological security level of the entire basin