Introduction Under China’s dual carbon goals, whether the Industry-Finance Cooperation Pilot Policy (IFCPP) improves both quantity and quality of corporate green innovation remains unresolved. Methods Taking the IFCPP as a quasi-natural experiment, we use panel data of Chinese A-share listed firms (2012–2023) and the staggered DID method, measuring innovation quantity by green invention patent applications and quality by citations. Results Results show that the IFCPP significantly boosts both the quantity and quality of green innovation, with a stronger effect on quality. The policy functions through dual pathways: external signal transmission and expectation stabilization, and internal resource allocation and innovation accumulation, with internal channels being more prominent. Interaction analyses indicate that RD investment hedges external uncertainty, financing constraint alleviation depends on external stability, and ESG performance strengthens internal drivers. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that quality improvement is more significant for non-SOEs, manufacturing firms, and heavily polluting industries. Discussion Policy-induced green innovation enhances firm market value and drives regional economic growth via spillover effects. This study demonstrates that industry-finance cooperation facilitates the transformation of innovation from “quantity-pursuing” to “quality-valuing,” supporting the green and low-carbon transition.
Jiang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.