Based on panel data of 284 cities at or above the prefecture level in China from 2012 to 2022, this paper studied the impact of new quality productivity on green innovation efficiency and the moderating effect of urbanization in this process by using fixed effect model, moderating effect model and general nesting spatial model. It was found that:（1）New quality productivity was confirmed to significantly enhance green innovation efficiency, a conclusion that still held after a series of robustness tests.（2）The promoting effect of new quality productivity on green innovation efficiency was most significant in the eastern region, followed by the central region, while no significant impact was observed in the western region.（3）Urbanization played a positive moderating role in the process of new quality productivity promoting green innovation efficiency.（4）New quality productivity was shown to generate positive spatial spillover effect that effectively improved green innovation efficiency of neighboring regions. Therefore, it was recommended to actively cultivate new quality productivity, optimize the innovation environment according to regional characteristics, vigorously promote the green urbanization process, and establish efficient regional cooperation mechanism to fully unleash the potential of new quality productivity and accelerate the green transformation of the economy and society.