User-friendly approaches or methods that could facilitate communication effectively with policymakers and the public have been a target in developing models for a low carbon emissions economy. Graphical tools offer physical insight and a better understanding of the advantages of the proposed solution or system design, as well as the constraint of the proposed strategies. This article reviews the classical and existing graphical approaches, showing the timeline and trend of some tool series and implementation methods for climate change mitigation. The discussion surrounded the approaches for low carbon buildings and renewable energy development. The future and emerging direction for a low carbon emissions economy are also discussed to tackle the flexibility and reliability issues of the graphical tool for better applicability.
