Internal and External Cultivation to Drive Enterprises’ Green Transformation: Dual Perspectives of Vertical Supervision and Environmental Self-Discipline

Central Environmental Protection Inspection (CEPI) is a major step in China’s environmental vertical supervision reform. With the multi-period Difference-in-Differences method, we assess the impact of CEPI on enterprise green transformation. In addition, we further explore the impact of enterprise environmental self-discipline. The results show that CEPI significantly promotes enterprise green transformation, and this effect on governance is further strengthened by environmental self-discipline. The synergistic governance effect of compound environmental regulation is pronounced, particularly in enterprises lacking government–enterprise relationships and in areas covered by CEPI “look back” initiatives and where local governments rigorously enforce environmental laws. The mechanism analysis reveals that CEPI mainly promotes enterprise green transformation by improving executive green cognition, boosting investment in environmental protection, and enhancing green innovation efficiency. This study provides a fresh perspective on analyzing the governance impact of CEPI and provides valuable insights for improving multi-collaborative environmental governance systems.