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The key to transforming resource-dependent cities is for them to stop depending on resources for economic development. This would be a sustainable development path to lead to the peaking of carbon emissions. The carbon-peaking goal imposes strong carbon emission constraints and improper responses challenge the low-carbon transformation of resource-dependent cities. Continuous reduction in the intensity of carbon emissions is necessary for achieving the carbon-peaking goal. The transformation of resource-dependent cities, characterized by industrial transformation, tends to achieve this goal indirectly by reducing resource depletions. Effective environmental regulation introduces a more direct mechanism to reduce the intensity of carbon emissions on the terminal-end. Therefore, this study explores the carbon-peaking effect of resource-dependent city transformation and its mechanisms using the propensity score matching combined difference-in-differences method. The panel data from 324 districts and counties from 2005 to 2017 is selected based on the industrial transformation of typical resource-dependent cities in the adjoining Shanxi Province, Shaanxi Province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China initiated in 2009. The results show that industrial transformation only focuses on the stop-loss effect of cities with high-resource-dependence and promotes the continuous reduction in the intensity of carbon emissions at the early stages of resource-dependent city transformation. Furthermore, the carbon-peaking momentum during this transformation is a direct result of the increase in green technology innovation which introduces new mechanisms for green low-carbon development to transforming city. Meanwhile, environmental regulations achieve the carbon-peaking goal by increasing green total factor productivity through restraining existing high-carbon development inertia thereby reducing the intensity of carbon emissions. Therefore, environmental regulations and industrial transformation need to be coordinated, through combination of introducing green low-carbon mechanisms and restraining high-carbon development inertia, to jointly reduce the intensity of carbon emissions and create a sustainable mechanism for resource-dependent cities to achieve the carbon-peaking goal. • The transformation of resource-dependent cities promotes carbon peaking in China. • Both industry transformation and environmental regulation benefit carbon peaking. • Environmental regulation reduces carbon-emission by green total factor productivity. • Development transformation needs green innovation besides industrial substitution. • New low-carbon mechanisms need curbing high-carbon development inertia meanwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]