China is currently the largest emitter in the world. Moreover, the construction industry is the biggest contributor to CO₂ emissions. Most scholars use the averaging method to explore CO₂ emissions driving factors. However, the actual socio-economic variables distribution isn’t often normal, with the tail having hidden important information. Based on panel data from 2004-2016, this paper investigates the driving forces of CO₂ emissions through the quantile regression approach. The empirical results show that the impacts of economic growth on CO₂ emissions in the 10th-25th, 50th-75th and 75th-90th quantile provinces are higher than those in the other quantile provinces. The influences of urbanization on CO₂ emissions in the upper 90th are strongest in all the quantile provinces. The affects of construction development on CO₂ emission in the 25^th-50^th and upper 90^th quantile provinces is greater than those in the other quantile provinces, while the effects of energy intensity on CO₂ in the lower 10^th and 10^th-25th quantile provinces are lower than those in other quantile provinces due to the difference. Consequently, emission reduction departments should take into account the differences of carbon emissions driving forces in different provinces and reasonably formulate policies in mitigating carbon emission.