Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an important driving force for sustainable development. Based on panel data from China’s A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2023, this study empirically examines the impact and mechanisms of AI on corporate green competitiveness. The results indicate that AI significantly enhances firms’ green competitiveness and its three sub-dimensions—green strategy, green innovation, and green practices—and these conclusions remain robust after a series of robustness tests. Further analysis reveals that AI promotes green competitiveness by improving green total factor productivity and curbing corporate greenwashing. In addition, environmental regulation, public environmental concerns, peer effects, and supply chain finance play significant positive moderating roles. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that while the positive effect of AI on green competitiveness shows no significant variation between the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors, it is more pronounced in heavily polluting industries, coastal regions, and large enterprises. These findings provide a new theoretical perspective on corporate green transformation in the intelligent era and offer a theoretical basis for policymakers to improve the synergistic development framework between AI and environmental governance.
Yang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.