[Objective] Under the “double carbon” goal, the impact of land use on carbon emission, absorption, and balance was examined to provide a basis for national spatial planning. [Methods] The Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone was taken as the study area, based on land use and socio-economic data, and the coefficient method was adopted to measure the carbon balance of the study area from years 2000 to 2022. The study then explored the differences in the spatial and temporal patterns of the area and conducted carbon balance zoning of the processed results from multiple perspectives using the economic contribution rate and ecological carrying capacity coefficient. Lastly, a targeted strategy was proposed. [Results] ① Carbon emissions generally showed an upward trend, and cropland and construction land were the most important sources of carbon. These land types were spatially distributed mainly in the Chengdu Plain and Chongqing metropolitan areas of the study area. ② The total amount of carbon sequestration showed an upward trend, and the main source of carbon sinks was forest land, which was spatially distributed mainly in the mountainous areas around the study area. ③ Total net carbon emissions increased by 273%. The number of counties achieving carbon balance reduced from 23 to 10. ④ Based on carbon balance analysis, indicators of net carbon emissions, and economic contribution rate, among others, high-quality agricultural production areas were classified as low-carbon development zones, densely populated and narrowly developed core areas as carbon-intensity control zones, traditional industrial areas as high-carbon optimization zones, and ecological barrier zones as carbon sink functional zones. [Conclusion] The spatial and temporal differences in carbon emissions in the Chendu-Chongqing ecomic zone had corresponding regularities, and the carbon absorption space were more stable. Therefore, to promote the low-carbon and sustainable development of the economic zone, the land resource utilization structure can be further adjusted in a more refined way according to the land zoning optimization plan.