Based on the perspective of green innovation, the impact of management equity incentive on green innovation of listed companies in heavily polluting industries in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2006 to 2022 was empirically tested. The research shows that the management stock incentive plan promotes the green innovation of heavy polluting enterprises, and the conclusion is still reliable after using instrumental variables to mitigate the endogeneity and other robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that management equity incentive can promote green innovation output by easing financing constraints and increasing R&D investment. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there is no significant difference between the property rights nature and incentive model, and the effect of equity incentive is more significant when the enterprise is in the growth stage and the decline stage.

green innovation  /  management equity incentive  /  research and development investment  /  enterprise life cycle