Can intelligent transformation enhance corporate green innovation performance?

• Digital intelligence adoption enhances green transformation through optimizing financial pathways in emerging economies. • Debt financing costs function as a critical mediating mechanism linking technological advancement to environmental innovation. • State ownership substantially amplifies the environmental benefits of digital intelligence adoption compared to market-oriented firms. • Non-polluting industries derive greater green transformation benefits from digital intelligence than heavily polluting sectors. • Institutional context fundamentally conditions the efficacy of technological investments in driving sustainable development outcomes. This study examines how intelligent transformation improves corporate green innovation performance in emerging markets. Analyzing 28,769 enterprise–year observations from Chinese-listed companies (2010–2022), we develop an innovative framework for measuring the implementation of intelligent transformation based on investments in technological infrastructure. Our findings suggest that intelligent transformation significantly enhances green innovation performance by improving financing efficiency. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that institutional contexts and industry characteristics shape this relationship. Enterprises with extensive intelligent transformation integration exhibit markedly improved green innovation outcomes. These insights reflect the synergistic relationship between technological advancement and environmental sustainability within the intelligent-green transition paradigm.