Mechanism and Heterogeneity Analysis of the Impact of Corporate Climate Action Paths on Green Innovation from the Perspective of Resource Allocation

Green innovation, as an "integrator" of new quality productivity, is an important lever and guarantee for addressing climate change risks, and an "accelerator" for driving enterprise industrial transformation and upgrading. Based on the perspective of resource allocation, a theoretical analysis framework and multiple regression model for climate action and green innovation are constructed. Chinese A-share listed companies are taken as the research objects, and panel data from 2008 to 2023 are used to analyze the impact mechanism and scenario dependence of different climate action paths of enterprises on the quantity and quality of green innovation. The research results show that: (1) Most companies' climate action is guided by meeting regulatory needs, and basically stays at the stage of policy formulation, institutional setting, and limited information disclosure. Examine the heterogeneity of the impact of different climate action paths on green innovation in stages, and the driving factors of green innovation gradually shift from the governance structure led by resource coordination in the first stage to climate performance target disclosure based on social stakeholders in the second stage; (2) The heterogeneity of the impact of different climate action paths on the quantity and quality of green innovation is examined by classification. The results show that climate governance mechanisms are significantly positively correlated with the quantity of green innovation, but weakly correlated with the quality of green innovation; Although there is relatively little disclosure of climate target performance, it is significantly positively correlated with the quality of green innovation; (3) The impact of corporate climate action on green innovation has an optimal level and diminishing marginal utility. This impact is more pronounced in capital technology intensive enterprises, growth oriented enterprises, and non-state-owned enterprises; The inverted U-shaped relationship between climate governance mechanisms and green innovation is most significant in different climate action pathways. (4) Digitization plays a partially positive mediating role in the impact of corporate climate action on green innovation, while financing constraints and agency costs play a partially negative mediating role. Financial subsidies and organizational relaxation positively regulate the promoting effect of climate action on green innovation.