The “spider web” of venture capital: An invisible force driving corporate green technology innovation

In the context of increasing global climate disasters and the urgent goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, corporate green technology innovation faces systemic challenges including extended investment return cycles, strong positive externalities, and insufficient market incentives. This study aims to investigate how venture capital network positioning characteristics influence corporate green technology innovation and through what mechanisms this influence operates. Drawing on social network theory and utilizing panel data from China's ChiNext board companies (2012–2022), we construct venture capital networks through co-investment relationships and employ eigenvector centrality to measure network positions. Our findings reveal that venture capital institutions with higher network centrality significantly enhance corporate green technology innovation, with this effect being particularly pronounced in private enterprises and high-tech industries. Further mechanism analysis demonstrates that venture capital networks facilitate green innovation through a triple-pathway framework of knowledge spillover, reputation certification, and supervisory pressure, forming a unique network resource value creation mechanism. These findings not only deepen the theoretical integration between social network theory and sustainable innovation research but also provide empirical evidence for constructing efficient venture capital ecosystems and optimizing green finance policy frameworks to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.