Abstract: Under the background of ecological civilization construction, the construction of "dual carbon" proposes new requirements for the construction of ecological river channels. At present, there is still a lack of methods and standards to quantify carbon emissions in ecological river construction. According to the design characteristics of bank slope protection technology of ecological river channel engineering, based on the whole life cycle theory and using the carbon footprint emission coefficient method, this study focuses on four carbon footprint factors in the construction stage of ecological river channel: earthwork, concrete engineering, energy consumption and labor. The calculation results show that among different ecological river protection technologies, the carbon footprint emissions caused by concrete account for 34.75%～93.11%, with an average of 79.02%. Therefore, concrete is the most important carbon emission factor in ecological river engineering, followed by gasoline vehicle transportation and earthwork excavation. On the premise of satisfying the basic functions of bank slope, the bank slope protection technology of imitation wooden stake and grass planting has the best energy saving and emission reduction effect. Therefore, the unnecessary consumption of concrete, energy and metal materials should be minimized in the design of ecological river engineering, and the use of natural low-carbon ecological materials and native vegetation should be increased.