The mediating role of executive decisions in linking low-carbon city pilots to corporate action

Corporations are key actors in urban climate governance and play an important role in achieving low-carbon policy goals. While prior research recognizes the importance of executives in promoting green decisions, micro-level evidence on how the Low-Carbon City Pilot (LCCP) influences corporate carbon reduction through executive decision-making remains limited. This study introduces a novel framework that incorporates executive government experience and green professional background based on a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model and panel data of A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2021. The empirical results show that: 1) Compared with firms in non-pilot cities, firms located in pilot cities experience an average decline of approximately 2% in carbon intensity. This finding remains robust after controlling for firm-level characteristics and conducting a series of robustness tests. 2) The LCCP significantly (p < 0.01) reduces corporate carbon intensity through executive green cognition. Executive government experience and green backgrounds further moderate the effect of the policy. Specifically, executives with stronger government connections and green expertise are more likely to enhance corporate responsiveness to low-carbon policies and amplify emission-reduction outcomes. 3) The policy effect exhibits notable regional and industrial heterogeneity. Firms in economically developed eastern cities show more pronounced reductions in carbon intensity. For high-pollution industries, stronger regulatory pressure and public scrutiny may induce firms to adopt more proactive environmental responses. By focusing on the internal decision-making logic of firms, this study highlights the central role of low-carbon governance within top management teams and emphasizes the importance of government–enterprise coordination and policy adaptation mechanisms. The findings provide solid empirical evidence and practical implications for optimizing low-carbon policy design across regions and helping firms advance low-carbon transformation more effectively.