Carbon Management Capability and Corporate Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Towards Markets with High Environmental Barriers

Against the backdrop of global green rules reshaping the economic and trade system, and the synergistic advancement of China’s “dual carbon” goals and high-level opening-up strategy, this study aims to investigate whether corporate carbon management capability serves as a competitive advantage for Chinese companies investing abroad in countries with strict environmental regulations. Based on data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2024, this paper constructs a multi-dimensional comprehensive indicator for corporate carbon management capability and employs Probit model and two-way fixed effects model for empirical testing. Findings show that strong carbon management enhances both the likelihood and scale of overseas investment, primarily by easing financing constraints and fostering green innovation. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that this promoting effect is stronger for non-state-owned, smaller firms, and those led by executives with environmental backgrounds. This study connects the micro-level construction of corporate green capabilities with macro-level internationalization strategy choices, providing a new analytical perspective for understanding high-quality “going global” by enterprises under the new development paradigm, and offering policy references for the national coordination of the “dual carbon” strategy and high-level opening-up.