Water resources and energy consumption and carbon emissions restrict regional development and affect regional ecological and environmental quality, the coupling effect and collaborative management of regional multi-factor resources have become a research hotspot in recent years. Water resources, energy, and carbon emission systems are interconnected through different processes. Exploring the coupling relationship of water-energy-carbon system is an important basis for regional exploration of green and the coordinated development. This paper takes three northeastern provinces as the research objects, adopts the system dynamics research method to explore the water-energy-carbon correlation model from the natural, social and economic dimensions. Based on the current situation of water resources, energy, and carbon emissions in the three northeastern provinces from 2001 to 2019, the coupling relationship of the three subsystems is sorted out, and the development and change of the next two decades is simulated. The results show that:(1) water resources, energy, and carbon emissions will show an increasing trend in the next twenty years, and water resources will show the fastest growing trend. Under scenario 5, compared with 2020, water resources, energy and carbon emissions will increase by 230.4%, 210.7% and 36.9% in 2040, respectively. (2) The degree of influence of decision variables on the water-energy-carbon system is in the order of clean energy conservation > industrial regulation > GDP growth rate. GDP growth rate is positively correlated with system change, while the industrial structure and residents' consciousness are negatively correlated with the system. In the comprehensive regulation scenario, the future water consumption is higher than the base scenario, while the energy consumption and carbon emissions are well controlled. (3) From 2020 to 2040, there is a strong correlation between water resources, energy consumption and carbon emissions, and the link is improved in the direction of collaborative optimization. The gap between supply and demand is reduced, which effectively alleviates environmental pressure. (4) In scenario 3, the adjustment of energy structure and the improvement of residents' awareness can effectively reduce carbon emissions. In scenario 4, the adjustment of industrial structure has a significant impact on water resources and energy. the scenario 5 balances economic development with energy saving and water saving to reduce carbon emissions, strictly follows the "dual carbon" goal, and promotes the sustainable development direction of higher quality development of water resources and energy, which is more reference. It is conducive to the sustainable development of the water-energy-carbon system in the three northeastern provinces and promotes the level of economic development.