How AI Application Empowers Corporate Green Transformation

Abstract

Amid escalating climate pressures and China’s “dual carbon” commitments, the green transition of enterprises is constrained by two intertwined challenges: deficient data governance and persistent technological hurdles. This study exploits the staggered rollout of National AI Innovation Application Pilot Zones as a quasi-natural experiment. Drawing on panel data covering A-share listed firms in China from 2009 to 2022, and applying a staggered Difference-in-Differences framework, we estimate the causal effect of Artificial Intelligence adoption on corporate green transition and identify the mechanisms driving this relationship. The study confirms that AI application, leveraging its powerful data insight and decision optimization capabilities, effectively resolves the conflict between economic benefits and environmental performance, significantly facilitating corporate green transformation. Mechanism analysis reveals that AI mainly plays an empowering role through four pathways: first, alleviating information asymmetry in investment and financing, thereby expanding corporate financing cash flow; second, aligning with national macro-strategies to enhance the ability to obtain government subsidies; third, promoting labor skill upgrading to strengthen core human capital; and fourth, reshaping data generation mechanisms to improve the quality of environmental information disclosure. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this promoting effect is more pronounced in technology-intensive, high-tech, and highly competitive industries; meanwhile, non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises in the growth and maturity stages benefit more. Accordingly, this paper recommends continuously deepening pilot zone construction, promoting the integration of “AI + Green Finance,” precisely allocating fiscal subsidies, accelerating the cultivation of interdisciplinary talent, and implementing differentiated policy guidance strategies.