With growing attention to environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility, Chinese corporations are facing increasing regulatory and market pressures to adopt practices that foster long-term competitiveness. Green innovation has become a critical strategy for sustainable growth. In addition, ESG practices have gained increasing focus as a mechanism to promote corporate sustainability and improve transparency. In this case, this study examines the effect of CEO tenure on green innovation and the mediating role of ESG. Using data from Chinese corporations between 2020 and 2024, this study finds a negative association between CEO tenure and green innovation. Furthermore, ESG is shown to mediate this relationship, indicating that CEO tenure influences green innovation both directly and indirectly. Moreover, the negative influence of CEO tenure on green innovation is stronger in manufacturing firms than in non-manufacturing firms. These findings provide implications for corporate governance and policies to foster the development of green innovation.
Jia et al. (2026) studied this question.