Green research and development subsidies refer to financial subsidies provided by the central or local governments to encourage enterprises to engage in green technology innovation activities such as resource conservation and environmental protection. Under the dual orientation of "dual-carbon" strategy and high-quality development, whether green R D subsidies can promote enterprises" green technology innovation needs to be further studied. Based on the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the incentive effect of green R D subsidies on the quantity and quality of green technology innovation using a two-way fixed effect model. The results show that:①Green R D subsidies can promote enterprises" green technology innovation. The conclusion is still valid after endogeneity test and robustness test.②Green R D subsidy has a heterogeneous effect on the incentive of green technology innovation, showing that the promotion effect on the quantity of green technology innovation is better than the quality.③Enterprises cater to green R D subsidies, which leads to a heterogeneous incentive effect of "strong quantity and weak quality".④The incentive heterogeneity effect of green R D subsidies is affected by the difference of industrial pollution degree and environmental regulation intensity. Compared with the heavily polluting industries, the incentive effect of green R D subsidies on non-heavily polluting industries is better, but the existence of catering behavior will also lead to the "strong quantity, weak quality" incentive effect. Green R D subsidies in regions with strong environmental regulations can promote the "incremental improvement" of enterprises" green technology innovation, indicating that strong regulations can restrict enterprises" catering behavior of strategic innovation. Based on the analysis of the incentive effect of green R D subsidies, the government should be wary of the catering behavior of micro enterprises and optimize the policy tools when using green R D subsidies to stimulate enterprises" green technology innovation. This study not only deepens the quantitative research on green R D subsidies, but also identifies and tests the distorting effect of catering behavior, providing micro empirical support and countermeasures for improving the formulation and distribution of green R D subsidies standards and promoting high-quality green technology innovation in enterprises.