Open data as knowledge infrastructure for enabling corporate green transformation

Open public data have become a pivotal institutional mechanism within the digital economy by functioning as the knowledge infrastructure that reshapes corporate environmental governance and drives green transformation. To investigate the effects of open public data, this study leverages the phased implementation of open data platforms across China as a quasi-natural experiment by employing the difference-in-differences approach using data from A-share listed companies between 2009 and 2022. Results reveal that (1) open data platforms markedly facilitate corporate green transformation. (2) This effect operates through three mechanisms: by strengthening corporate social responsibility through knowledge encoding, promoting R&D-driven development through knowledge flows, and facilitating collaborative innovation via knowledge recombination. (3) The facilitating effect is particularly pronounced for the following types of firms: those with a higher degree of digital transformation, those located farther from administrative centers, those exhibit highly uncertain environmental policies as well as state-owned enterprises and firms in heavily polluting industries. This study enhances theories of environmental regulation and knowledge governance by emphasizing the role of open data as knowledge infrastructure and provides policy insights for advancing data-driven sustainability transitions.