Does dual tax incentives benefit green innovation for enterprises?

Carbon emission reduction constitutes a vital directive for global socioeconomic development in both contemporary and future contexts, with advancing green innovation among high-energy-consumption industrial enterprises representing an essential mechanism for achieving decarbonization. This study empirically investigates the incentive effects of the super-deduction of R&D expenses policy and the income tax rate preferential policy on green innovation within Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed high-energy-consumption enterprises, utilizing panel data spanning 2016 to 2022. The analysis specifically examines interaction effects between these policies to assess their combinatorial consistency. Research demonstrates both tax incentive policies significantly stimulate green innovation; however, their concurrent application proves counterproductive, significantly hindering green innovation advancement. Environmental regulations and executive environmental awareness effectively mitigate this adverse interactive effect. Further research reveals that the negative interactive effects of the two policies persist within corporate ESG performance and subsequently influence corporate carbon emissions. By extending tax incentive policy coherence research to the green innovation domain, this investigation provides substantive decision-making references for governments promoting sustainable transformation in energy-intensive industries.