In response to climate change, the information of global, regional and urban carbon concentration, as well as carbon source and sink is essential for achieving dual carbon goals, actively participating in international negotiations, and providing policymakers with reliable and up-to-date support. The “top-down” approach to carbon source-sink accounting, which uses satellite observations as the base flux calculation technology, has become an internationally recognized method for supporting and validating greenhouse gas emissions inventories. This paper systematically introduces the principle, category and development of the satellite detection payloads for greenhouse gases, the atmospheric remote sensing estimation methods for CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O concentrations and emission fluxes, as well as the influencing factors of detection deficiency and errors. And the urgent demand for improving the detection capability of satellites for greenhouse gas, the insufficient accuracy of concentration inversion and emission estimation, the lack of remote sensing research on other greenhouse gases such as N 2 O and fluoride, and the weak verification capability of ground-based remote sensing are analyzed in depth. Finally, the future development trends of greenhouse gas satellite remote sensing technology in China are summarized, which are mainly focusing on the development and application of active and passive, high temporal and spatial resolution satellites, high-precision emission estimation (especially for cities, small areas and point source scales), and remote sensing assessment of fluoride, in order to promote the understanding of carbon cycle, and improve the ability to sense and respond to climate change.