Analysis of the effects of land use on carbon emissions is important for understanding the mechanisms of carbon emissions, carbon emissions reduction, and climate change mitigation. In this study, we proposed models of carbon emissions for evaluating the carbon budget in the Chengdu Plain, western China, from 1990 to 2010 by estimating carbon sinks and carbon sources based on data of energy consumption and land use changes determined using remote sensing. The results are as follows.(1) Carbon emissions from land use changes significantly increased by 3269.37*10~4 t or 137%. The increased carbon emissions in Sichuan were associated with the rapid increase in fossil fuel consumption and land use changes. (2) Carbon sources of construction land and carbon sinks of forestland accounted for the largest percentage, respectively. Carbon emissions associated with built-up land were much higher than they were for other land use types. In contrast to the continuous increase in carbon sources, there was a slight overall decrease in carbon sinks, between 1990 and 2010. Carbon emissions increased by 3271.55*10~4 t or 139.01% from built-up land, but decreased by 1.30*10~4 t or 3.12% because of the carbon sink from forestland.(3) The regional differences in carbon emissions from land use were obvious. The Chengdu and its second circle-layer, the Mianyang municipal district, Mianzhu, and the Leshan municipal district all had greater carbon emissions in 2010 than in 1990, whereas carbon emissions in the west, northwest, and southwest mountainous regions had lower, or negative net, carbon emissions because of wide-spread cover by forests and grassland. These regions had relatively low fossil fuel consumption, slow urbanization, limited industrial development, and transportation challenges compared to the Chengdu Plain and its surrounding regions. Spatial distributions of carbon emissions in the Chengdu Plain from 1990 to 2010 indicated that carbon emissions increased both in amount and geographic scale with time. (4) There was a certain relationship between the land use structure and carbon emissions. Carbon sources effect of land use was much higher than the carbon sinks effect. Forestland, grassland, areas of surface water, and unused land were carbon sinks, whereas construction land and cultivated land were carbon sources. The rapid increase in carbon sources and slow decrease in carbon sinks resulted in a substantial increase in carbon emissions in Sichuan from 1990 to 2010. Therefore, the focus of carbon emissions reduction in Sichuan should be on keeping or increasing the existing forestland area, while mainly continuing carbon emissions reduction from construction land. Through targeted land use and land management activities, ecosystems can be managed to enhance carbon sequestration and mitigate fluxes in other greenhouse gases.