Since the reform and opening up, Chinese economy has been developing rapidly, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpassed that of Japan in 2010 and has remained the second largest in the world for consecutive years ever since. However, a host of issues have emerged in the process of economic scale expansion, such as high total carbon emissions and relatively low energy utilization efficiency. According to the Report on Statistical Analysis of Green and Low-Carbon Patents (2024) released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the cumulative number of published green and low-carbon patent applications in China reached 573,000 from 2016 to 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 10.0%. Although the number of green and low-carbon patent applications published in China and their proportion of the global total showed an overall upward trend, China's green innovation is characterized by a phenomenon of "growing quantity alongside declining quality". At the same time, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index 2024, which shows that China ranks 11th worldwide in innovation capacity. Nevertheless, the Global Energy Review 2025 published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that China remained the largest coal consumer globally. This implies that there may still be a significant gap between China's green innovation efficiency and that of developed countries. China's green innovation is now caught in a dilemma where quantity is growing while quality is declining and efficiency remains low. Therefore, how to break through the predicament of "low quality and low efficiency" in green innovation among Chinese enterprises has become a critical issue, which is essential to achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals and boosting the overall performance of China's innovation system.

It has become an important issue in theory and reality to promote the deep integration of enterprise digitalization, intelligence and greening, and solve the dilemma of green innovation. Based on the listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2014 to 2023, this study explores the impact and mechanism of digital intelligence on enterprise green innovation from the dual perspective of "improving quality and expanding quantity" as well as "enhancing efficiency". The results show that: (1) Digital intelligence can not only promote the quantity and quality, but also improve efficiency, and the conclusion still holds after testing for robustness. (2) The mechanism testing shows that digital intelligence breaks through the green innovation dilemma by optimizing the innovation resources allocation and reducing information asymmetry and other means. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that high environmental regulation areas, high-tech industries, state-owned and large enterprises, digital intelligence plays a more significant effect on the improvement of the green innovation. (4) The effect consequences study shows that the promotion of enterprise green innovation by digital intelligence can further improve the economic, environmental, and social responsibility performance of the enterprise. The conclusion of this study provides useful insights for leveraging digital intelligence to drive enterprise green innovation, achieving the dual-carbon goals and boosting the overall performance of China's innovation system, and shaping new driving forces and advantages for high-quality development of enterprises.