Whether and how environmental regulation and resource dependence contribute to green economic growth has been a focus of academic discussion. This paper analyzes the multi-stage transmission mechanism based on environmental regulation to promote green economic growth, especially the important transmission mechanism of resource dependence. The green economic growth and environmental regulation indicators of 286 Chinese cities were measured from 2003 to 2018 using the Metafrontier Global Slack-Based Measure (SBM) super-efficient Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE) method. In addition, resource dependence indicators are investigated. Spatial panel and multiple mediator models are used to test the one- and two-step transmission mechanisms of resource dependence concerning the effect of environmental regulation on green economic growth. The results show that resource dependence plays a mediating role in the one-step transmission mechanism. Resource dependence further affects green economic growth by influencing the industrial structure, quality of the government system, foreign investments, technological innovation, manufacturing development, and physical capital, thus constituting a two-step transmission mechanism. Finally, we suggest a new method based on the environmental regulation policy in China, which can be used to break the “curse” of urban resources and realize green economic growth.