How do green investors drive firms toward a win-win of carbon reduction and value creation?

Amid China’s dual-carbon strategy and the rapid expansion of green finance, the role of green investors in aligning firms’ environmental and economic objectives has become increasingly important. Using panel data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2023, this study constructs a coupling coordination index to capture the alignment between low-carbon transition and value creation (TCE). It examines how green investors (GI) influence this alignment and explores the internal and external conditions under which their effects are strengthened or weakened. The results show that: (1) GI significantly enhance the TCE; (2) GI drive this coordination by alleviating financing constraints, encouraging green investment, incentivizing green governance practices, and enhancing internal control quality; and (3) the positive effects of GI are more pronounced in firms that are non-energy-intensive, technology-intensive, exhibit higher levels of green awareness, display lower tendencies toward greenwashing, are at the maturity stage of development, or have weaker initial levels of greening. This study systematically reveals the internal logic through which green investors influence the synergistic development of carbon reduction and value creation via resource allocation and governance mechanisms. It contributes to the literature at the intersection of green finance and corporate green transformation and offers valuable theoretical and policy implications.