<p>The sustainable development of resource-based cities is facing more severe challenges than other cities. The achievement of sustainable development in resource-based cities is a multidimensional issue, with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) providing a framework that guides the evaluation dimensions for their sustainable development. Despite the significance of SDGs, few studies have integrated them with the core sustainable development needs of resource-based cities to assess their development capacity. Based on the prefecture-level data from 2006 to 2020 in China, we construct an SDGs-oriented sustainable development evaluation framework. This study verifies the applicability of the framework by analyzing the spatiotemporal dynamics of sustainable development of resource-based cities, and discusses the link between sustainability and carbon emissions. The important findings of this paper include: (1) The sustainable development of resource-based cities shows a balanced tendency in space, and regenerative cities achieved the highest level. (2) there is a significant positive spatial correlation in resource-based cities, and show a narrowing geographical disparity. Considerable disparities exist in different domains in sustainable development level. (3) Many resource-based cities confront the issue of high carbon emissions, indicating persistent efforts towards industrial transformation remain crucial for carbon reduction.</p>