Carbon footprint data served as the core basis for quantifying the full life-cycle carbon emissions of electromechanical products and driving the low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing industries. Focusing on the whole processes of carbon footprint data from acquisition to application, the relevant research approaches were systematically reviewed. The acquisition technologies for multi-source heterogeneous carbon footprint data and the data quality evaluation system were organized, addressing the question of "how data comes". Focusing on “how to use”, applications of data-driven technologies in low-carbon design and manufacturing were elaborated, including data-based carbon footprint correlation modeling, intelligent prediction, generation of low-carbon design solutions, and multi-objective decision-making methods, as well as data-driven manufacturing energy consumption prediction, low-carbon process planning, and intelligent workshop scheduling strategies. Finally, challenges and future directions for data integrity and system integration in low-carbon manufacturing were discussed, offering theoretical references for the green and low-carbon development of electromechanical products.