The dual carbon strategy's proposal has been reducing the proportion of coal consumption as a primary energy source, yet coal's dominant position in the energy sector remains unshaken. Concurrently, the westward shift of the energy center has exacerbated the fragile and sensitive ecological environment issues in Western China. Given the insufficiency and dispersion of research results on soil environmental capacity, a systematic review of environmental capacity research in China was conducted using CiteSpace software. The establishment of soil environmental static and dynamic capacity calculation models and the comprehensive selection process of critical content were introduced. Various factors affecting the accuracy of capacity values were analyzed, and the application directions of capacity calculation were summarized. Existing problems were revealed, and future research directions were prospected. Due to the lack of space-time universality in current capacity calculation results, the construction of a long-term monitoring system in polluted areas was proposed. It was noted that the capacity model could not fully reflect the objective situation, and model optimization combined with the pollutant migration and transformation mechanism was identified as the next research focus. In line with the national energy strategy, it is urgent and necessary to conduct environmental capacity research at the mining area scale with the aid of geographic information technology.