Abstract Calcium carbonate is the most common scales in oilfield and thus has been heavily studied. However, calcium carbonate scale problems continue to occur in oilfield causing significant economic loss. To better control carbonate scale, reliable models on carbonate scaling risk and inhibition predictions are clearly necessary, which motivates this study. To develop such a model, it is necessary to gain a better understanding on mineral nucleation and inhibition kinetics based on experimental studies, which can correctly interpret field data and observations on carbonate scale occurrence. While heavily studied, what has been commonly ignored or failed to obtain in previous studies is a strict control of pH and CO2 pressure as well as a precise calculation of carbonate supersaturation in brine. Unlike BaSO4 or CaSO4, pH and CO2 pressure can strongly affect the supersaturation of carbonate in brine. Therefore, without careful control of pH and CO2 pressure and precise calculation of carbonate supersaturation, the reliability of data on carbonate scaling and inhibition kinetics can be questionable. Also, the difficulty in obtaining such a reliable control and calculation has limited studies on carbonate nucleation and inhibition kinetics to low temperature from 77-200 °F. In this study, we have developed robust procedures in controlling experimental pH and CO2 pressure and calculating carbonate supersaturation from 39-350 °F. With newly developed apparatus and protocol, we studied the precipitation and inhibition kinetics of calcium carbonate in the time range of seconds to more than 24 hours. The inhibition efficiency of 9 commonly used inhibitors including both phosphonates and polymers were characterized at different temperature and supersaturation levels. Experimental results were consistent and reproducible. Furthermore, a novel inhibition model has been developed based on data from this study. Finally, field observations on carbonate scaling kinetics of a number of wells are used to validate our new model and minimum inhibitor concentrations observed in the field are consistent with model predictions. In conclusion, this study provides reliable methods in studying carbonate scales and the newly developed models can provide accurate predictions of scaling risk and inhibition, which can help optimize the scale treatment plan.