Strategic interactions for carbon emissions in Chinese cities are influenced by mayors

City-related mitigation measures are crucial for reducing carbon emissions, but most studies on this issue treat cities as independent entities and neglect their interactions. This is especially relevant in the Chinese context, where peers influence policy decisions. Here we offer a novel perspective about mayors’ strategic interactions to explain cities’ carbon intensity reduction. We use a spatial Durbin model to investigate the effects and patterns of interaction on carbon intensity among Chinese cities from 2000 to 2019. We found that mayors’ interaction impacted cities’ carbon intensity, resulting in a 0.792% reduction in reference cities for every 1% decrease in neighboring cities. Mayors with higher education, younger ages, science-related majors and working in their hometowns had better performance. Additionally, we revealed an ‘imitation competition’ pattern (emulating the practices of the neighboring cities). This study offers new insights into city emissions policies and introduces new recommendations.