The Impact of Supply Chain Digitization on Corporate Green Transformation: A Perspective Based on Carbon Disclosure

Green transformation is becoming key for corporate sustainability in the context of global carbon neutrality goals and China’s “dual carbon” strategy (peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality). Digital transformation, particularly supply chain digitization, plays a significant role in green transformation. Corporations could improve environmental performance through appropriate resource allocation. Much academic and practical attention is drawn to this area to motivate corporate green transformation. This research proposes to explore the incentive effect of supply chain digitization on corporate green transformation and analyze the mediation mechanism of carbon information disclosure and the regulatory effect of external investor supervision. The study samples Chinese A-share listed firms between 2012 and 2024, constructs a moderated mediation effect model, and arrives at the following conclusions: (1) The digitization of the supply chain significantly stimulates the green transformation of public firms, indicating that digital technology promotes the green development of enterprises through optimizing supply chain management and improving environmental governance efficiency; (2) Carbon information disclosure plays a partial intermediary role between supply chain digitization and corporate green transformation, that is, supply chain digitization enhances the quality of carbon information disclosure and further strengthens the willingness and ability of enterprises to undergo green transformation; (3) The positive regulatory effect of external supervision on carbon information disclosure by investors indicates that external regulatory pressure can enhance the transmission effect of carbon information disclosure on corporate green transformation; (4) Heterogeneity analysis shows that supply chain digitization has a more significant incentive effect on green transformation for manufacturing firms, state-owned enterprises, and high-polluting enterprises, indicating that industry attributes, property rights, and environmental regulation intensity affect the effectiveness of digital green transformation.