Under the strategic imperatives of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals and the strategy of a country with strong transportation network, canal construction projects present substantial environmental challenges. The sector’s large-scale engineering projects consume massive energy and material resources, resulting in substantial carbon emissions. Achieving emission reduction has become a critical imperative for boosting sustainable development in China’s transportation infrastructure. Using the Pinglu Canal Project as a case study, this paper reviews current methodologies for carbon accounting in hydraulic engineering and evaluates emerging low-carbon construction technologies. Furthermore, the paper offers three strategic development suggestions, including standardized emission metrics of canals, carbon reduction technology development, and realization path of carbon sink value.

The stability of modern canal slopes is a crucial foundation for ensuring the smooth operation of waterways and supporting regional coordinated development. Focusing on the long-term stability and safety assurance of modern canal slopes, this paper systematically reviews related research achievements both domestically and internationally. It summarizes the current state of research, technological development trends, and major challenges in the field of canal slope stability. Additionally, it analyzes the combined effects of geotechnical properties, natural factors, and human activities on slope stability. The paper explores new technologies and intelligent management strategies for ensuring slope safety in complex environments and high-risk segments. Finally, it provides comprehensive recommendations for the development of key slope protection technologies in modern canal systems, with the aim of offering theoretical support and technical guidance for the construction of modern canal networks.

Modern canals integrate multi-functional needs such as shipping, flood control, water supply, irrigation, ecology, and tourism. There are many challenges in construction and operation, such as out-of-balance water and sediment transport, regional water security, ecological environment protection, long-life safety of structures, and low carbon. The need for China’s modern canal construction is increasingly urgent. However, the relevant fundamental research is relatively weak. The key theories and technologies of green construction and operation have yet to be broken through, and there is an urgent need to build systematic theories for synergistic regulation of safety and low carbon during the whole life of the canal project. Based on the discussion on the 362nd Shuangqing Forum of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), this paper reviews the development history of artificial canals and the research status of modern canal engineering, puts forward the core connotation of modern canal engineering, summarizes the key technical problems faced by the green construction and operation for modern canal engineering in China, condenses the major scientific issues that need to be paid attention to and solved in the next 5-10 years for green construction and operation of modern canal engineering, and discusses the frontier research direction and the strategy of science funding in the related fields, which have important guiding significance for enabling the construction of large-scale cross-water canal projects in China.