How the twin transition shapes green technological innovation in agricultural enterprises: evidence from China

Abstract

The twin transition is reshaping innovation patterns across industries, yet evidence on its effects in agriculture remains scarce despite the sector’s critical role in global food security and climate mitigation. This study investigates how the twin transition influences green technological innovation in Chinese A-share agricultural listed enterprises from 2015 to 2024, drawing on a panel dataset of 860 firms. We measure the coupling coordination degree of digital and green transformation and estimate fixed effects models to examine both the direct effect and the underlying mechanisms. The results show that the twin transition significantly promotes green technological innovation, a finding that is robust to alternative measures and estimation methods. This aggregate effect, however, masks substantial heterogeneity: the innovation-enhancing effect is significant only for midstream processing firms and large enterprises, while it is negligible for upstream and downstream firms and weaker for small enterprises. Mechanism tests identify two mediating pathways. First, the twin transition enhances organizational response agility, enabling firms to sense and react to environmental and market changes more rapidly. Second, it alleviates financing constraints, thereby securing stable resources for long-term green innovation. These findings contribute to the twin transition literature by extending the empirical domain into agriculture and by specifying the organizational and financial channels through which digital-green coupling promotes innovation. They also provide evidence to inform differentiated policy design for sustainable agricultural development.