EXPRESS: Global Diffusion of Environmental Innovation: Supply Chain Carbon Emissions Under Institutional Synchronization

International marketing scholarship has paid limited attention to how MNCs' environmental innovation affects suppliers' carbon emissions in foreign countries. We argue that MNCs' environmental innovation reduces foreign suppliers' carbon emissions by strengthening MNCs' incentives to govern suppliers and enhancing their capabilities to empower suppliers. We further propose that this relationship is contingent on MNC-country and supplier-country institutions. Using a global sample of 675 MNC–supplier dyads from 2006 to 2022, we find support for these arguments. Our results show that higher levels of MNC environmental innovation are associated with lower carbon emissions among foreign suppliers, and this relationship is strengthened by institutional synchronization in both countries. By demonstrating how environmental innovation facilitates the cross-border diffusion of environmental practices through global supply chains, this study contributes to research on sustainability in international marketing.