Urban Expansion and Carbon Footprint in Selangor: Remote Sensing and GIS Applications for Sustainable Cities and Climate Action Nur Hidayah Zakaria, Nur Atiqah Hazali, Siti Aekbal Salleh, Nurul Amirah Isa, Nini Nurdiana Johari, Arnis Asmat, Nurafiqah Wahid, Kamri Ahmad
Faculty of Built Environment (FBE), Kompleks Tahir Majid, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Geospatial Science & Technology College, Level 2 & 3, Wisma Lembaga Jurukur Tanah (LJT, Lorong Perak, Taman Melawati, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Selangor,Malaysia.
Faculty of Asia Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Geomatika Malaysia, Lot 5-5-7, 5th Floor, Prima Peninsular, Jalan Setiawangsa 11, Setiawangsa, 54200 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Universiti Teknologi MARA
School of Chemistry and Enviroment, Faculty of Applied Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan,Malaysia
Abstract
Rapid urbanization and land use transformation are major agents of rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which compromise natural carbon sinks and exacerbate climate concerns. Selangor, Malaysia^s most urbanized and industrialized state, is the prime example, whereby population growth, industrialization, and deforestation fuel emissions while reducing biomass storage. This study employs remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map and quantify CO2 emissions across Selangor for 2015 and 2025 using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data. Land cover and land use (LULC) were derived through supervised classification, with the aid of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in helping with Above Ground Biomass (AGB), carbon stock, and emission level estimation. Findings show extensive land cover alterations, where urban land cover expanded from 38% to 42% between 2015 and 2025, while forest cover reduced from 32% to 28%. High NDVI areas (>0.6) reduced from 27% to 23%, as well as high AGB (>100 t/ha) from 24% to 20% and carbon stock (>24 t C/ha) from 25% to 20%. Concurrently, high-emission zones (>100 tCO2/ha) expanded from 22% to 28%, and carbon sequestering zones (<0 tCO2/ha) declined from 15% to 12%, particularly in Hulu Selangor and Sabak Bernam. This indicates a net reduction in carbon sequestration capacity, raising the doubt as to whether Selangor is likely to achieve its Low Carbon City 2030 target. The integration of remote sensing and GIS is effective in monitoring spatial carbon dynamics and provides actionable information for interventions such as urban greening, sustainable land use, and forest conservation, directly aiding Malaysia^s efforts for SDG 11 and SDG 13
