<p>The climate catastrophe and ecological deterioration are recognized as two of humanity’s most critical issues. Developing and deploying green innovation is one viable strategy for achieving both environmental sustainability and economic growth. Nonetheless, previous research has failed to address the dynamic effects of policy uncertainty on green innovation, both directly and indirectly via productive knowledge. In this research, we examine the effects of climate policy uncertainty and economic complexity on green innovation. The research uses quantile regression technique for a sample of OECD nations spanning from 1995 to 2018. The estimation results confirm the existence of a long-term link between the variables of interest. Both economic complexity and climate policy uncertainty have a favorable impact on green innovation across its distribution. We notice that countries at the middle stage of green innovation receive the highest environmental benefit of building productive knowledge while those at the initial stage of green innovation obtain the highest benefit from rising uncertain climate policy. Additionally, climate policy uncertainty may dampen the beneficial effect of economic complexity at the high quantiles of green innovation. These findings provide insights for policymakers to facilitate the sustainable transition by encouraging innovations through sponsoring innovative and environmentally friendly firms while controlling the uncertainty of climate policy.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>