Significance: The construction industry in China is a major contributor to carbon emissions, creating substantial environmental challenges. In response, the construction sector is intensifying efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Among the various strategies implemented, building information modeling (BIM) technology has emerged as a key digital tool with transformative potential to lower building-related carbon emissions. BIM technology enhances design precision and operational efficiency while enabling comprehensive analysis and optimization of building systems. This capability facilitates carbon emission reductions throughout the lifecycle of a building. However, there remains a notable lack of systematic documentation and synthesis on effectively leveraging BIM technology for carbon emission control in construction. This gap is further exacerbated by the lack of comprehensive analyses of potential future research directions and practical application scenarios for BIM in carbon reduction. Progress: Therefore, the present study investigates the specific application of BIM to reduce carbon emissions across the design, production, and operation phases of a building's lifecycle. Through bibliometric methods that entail quantitative analysis of published research, the study seeks to identify key technologies and emerging trends within this domain. This research is organized into two main components. First, a comparative literature review combined with a market survey is conducted to map advancements in BIM-based research related to the whole life cycle carbon emissions of buildings. This comprehensive review aims to consolidate existing knowledge while identifying gaps or inconsistencies within the current body of research. Second, a detailed examination is conducted, focusing on the stages that have the most significant impact on carbon emissions, including building design, production, and operation. This analysis aims to identify major achievements and ongoing challenges within current research efforts and practical implementations and highlight potential directions for future advancements. Conclusions and Prospects: The findings reveal several key insights. BIM technology has focused primarily on the whole life cycle carbon emission analysis and design phase of buildings. While these contributions are noteworthy, research targeting the production and operational phases remains comparatively underdeveloped. This imbalance is partly due to the limited exploration of BIM's application scenarios in these later stages of a building's lifecycle. Specifically, BIM's potential to optimize building production processes and enhance operational efficiency through real-time data analytics and predictive modeling has not been completely realized or integrated into practical projects. Therefore, future research should prioritize broadening BIM's application to cover all phases of a building's lifecycle comprehensively. This involves developing innovative BIM tools and methodologies that seamlessly integrate with building management systems to enable real-time monitoring and control of carbon emissions. Furthermore, fostering collaboration among academia, industry stakeholders, and policymakers is essential for advancing BIM-based carbon reduction strategies and ensuring their effective implementation in practical scenarios. By addressing these research and implementation gaps, the construction industry can fully leverage BIM technology to achieve substantial reductions in carbon emissions, thereby contributing to global sustainability efforts.