Has China’s Green Finance Reform Policy Promoted Sustainable Innovation? The Mediating Role of CSR Strategies

Aiming to clarify the impact of China’s green finance reform policy on corporate sustainable innovation, as well as its internal mechanism, this paper draws on institutional theory and stakeholder theory to examine whether the policy drives corporate sustainable innovation, as well as the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Using data from Chinese A-share listed companies covering the period 2012 to 2022, we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) model to test the policy effects. The results show that the green finance reform policy significantly boosts both the input and output of corporate sustainable innovation. CSR strategies play a partial mediating role in this relationship: the policy drives firms to optimize CSR practices, which in turn enhances their sustainable innovation. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the policy effects vary across industries and regions. Specifically, the policy has a stronger effect on innovation input in heavily polluting industries, while it has a more significant impact on innovation output in non-heavily polluting industries. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) amplify the policy’s promotion effect on innovation output. We also find a significant threshold effect: CSR only drives sustainable innovation input when the proportion of green credit exceeds a critical level. These findings provide theoretical and empirical support for optimizing green finance policies to advance the coordinated development of the economy and the environment.