Under the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals" goal, green innovation is an important driving force for low-carbon transformation and sustainable development of enterprises. Using China’ s A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2019, we empirically analyze the influence mechanism of ESG performance on green innovation and further analyze the moderating effects of digital transformation, market competition intensity, and institutional environment. (1) The results show that corporate ESG performance positively affects green innovation. (2) Digital transformation, market competition intensity, and institutional environment positively moderate the relationship between ESG performance and green innovation. Further mechanism tests indicate that corporate reputation and equity financing cost play a mediating effect on the relationship between ESG performance and green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of ESG performance on green innovation is more significant in state-owned enterprises, enterprises located in the eastern part of China and large enterprises.This study enriches the research on corporate ESG and provides a reference for green innovation management and sustainable development of enterprises.