Predicting Environmental Outcomes of Energy Sector Mergers and Acquisitions Using <scp>TabTransformer</scp> Architecture: A Deep Learning Approach to Green Consolidation

ABSTRACT This study assesses TabTransformer architecture's predictive capacity for environmental mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A) in the global energy sector. Using 1000 energy sector M&amp;A transactions (2018–2023), we developed a machine learning framework incorporating ESG factors alongside conventional financial metrics. The TabTransformer employs attention mechanisms to capture complex correlations between environmental performance indicators and M&amp;A outcomes. ESG factors emerged as primary predictors, accounting for over one‐third of the model's predictive power. Analysis reveals positive correlation between environmental performance and financial returns, challenging traditional assumptions about environmental compliance costs. Attention mechanism analysis highlights regulatory policy stability, carbon intensity metrics, and renewable energy capacity as the most informative predictors. The study contributes to energy economics and machine learning literatures by establishing a predictive framework in which environmental capabilities emerge as informationally valuable signals associated with M&amp;A outcomes. Findings suggest a nexus between climate policy uncertainty and green M&amp;A escalation, indicating that environmental considerations have become prominent predictive factors beyond their traditional compliance role, and suggesting that regulators can leverage these signals to design targeted disclosure mandates and stable carbon pricing trajectories facilitating environmentally beneficial consolidation. These findings are situated within a period of historically strong ESG momentum and regulatory activism (2018–2024), and their generalizability to weaker‐policy environments warrants further investigation. The model's interpretability features enable practitioners to identify specific environmental predictors of M&amp;A outcomes, facilitating more informed screening and evaluation in the energy sector's sustainability transition. This research establishes that sophisticated analytical frameworks can simultaneously serve environmental and financial objectives in energy market transformation.