The Yellow River basin is a key region to study carbon peaking and carbon neutralisation owing to its high ecological and economic importance in China. To achieve this dual carbon goal, the relationship between carbon emissions and anthropogenic factors, such as urban land use, night light intensity, population density, and urban economic activities, should be elucidated. This study aimed to understand how urban construction land, urban economic activity intensity, and spatial population density patterns impact the CO₂ concentrations in the Yellow River basin using remote sensing data, and how urbanisation impacts the ecological environment of the basin with respect to land, economy, and population. The remote sensing satellite observation data was processed and subjected to coupling analysis, spatial analysis, and spatial econometric model. We found that during the study period, the lower reaches of the Yellow River basin exhibited a clear shift from construction to non-construction land, whereas the middle and upper reaches showed the reverse trend. Moreover, the bivariate clustering spatial patterns of construction land, night light intensity, and population with CO₂ concentration values had some similarities and partial differences. The coupling area of population and night light with CO₂ concentration was concentrated in the downstream, midstream, and upstream traffic trunk areas, and the construction land strongly impacted some areas in the upstream and midstream regions. The coupling and coordination of CO₂ concentration, construction land, and -economic activity intensity of cities in the Yellow River basin showed a ladder-like spatial pattern of increasing coordination degree from upstream to downstream. Furthermore, the ecological environment in the study area was affected by economic as well as population urbanisation. Urban construction land is one of the reasons for the CO₂ concentration in the Yellow River basin. This study suggests that high-quality development should be focused on ensuring regional economic development and ecological environment security according to the different directions of the impact of urbanisation and industrialisation on the ecological environment in different regions.