Can the Management's green cognition promote the Enterprise's green Transformation? Based on the perspective of carbon emissions

Carbon emission management is crucial for corporate sustainability and global climate action. Using data from Chinese listed firms from 2011 to 2022, this paper explores how management's green cognition affects corporate carbon emission performance and related contextual factors. The study shows that executives' focus on environmental issues boosts carbon emission performance via green tech innovation and environmental management system optimization. External media scrutiny enhances this effect, but industry environmental policy uncertainty may weaken long - term emissions reduction efforts. Moreover, non-state-owned enterprises can better translate executives' environmental awareness into action due to their resource flexibility. Carbon-intensive industries, under transformation pressure, are more motivated for low-carbon transformation.