Green Technology Innovation, Productivity, and ESG Performance: Asymmetric Associations and Empirical Channels in Chinese A-Share Firms

Abstract

This study examines whether green technology innovation is associated differently with firm productivity and ESG performance. Using panel data on Chinese A-share listed firms from 2013 to 2022, we estimate firm and year fixed-effects models and compare within-firm and pooled associations. In the primary corrected revenue-mode specification, green patent applications are negatively associated with short-run within-firm revenue productivity but positively associated with ESG ratings; the productivity result is construct- and specification-bounded. Alternative productivity measures further show that pooled and within-firm specifications capture materially different relationships. Firm age strengthens the ESG association more than the productivity association, whereas temporally ordered tests do not support environmental attention as a mediating channel, and the asset-turnover diagnostics are null. These findings qualify the conventional win–win view of green innovation and highlight the importance of distinguishing external rating responsiveness from internal operational outcomes. The productivity measure is revenue-based and does not represent physical efficiency.