<p>This research utilizes the policy of “Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones” (GFRIPZ), implemented in China in 2017 and 2019, as an external disturbance. It establishes an empirical research framework based on a multi-period DID approach to examine how the pilot policies influence the quality of enterprises’ green technology innovation (QEGTI). Moreover, a moderated chain mediation model is established to explore the underlying influencing mechanisms. The study yields the following.&#xa0;(1) The implementation of GFRIPZ significantly improves QEGTI, with the treatment group showing a 15.5% increase in QEGTI relative to the control group. This result remains robust across a series of sensitivity analyses, including tests of parallel trends, PSM-DID, and entropy balancing-DID; (2) The chain mediation analysis reveals that enterprises’ ESG performance and financing constraints (FC) jointly serve as a sequential mediating pathway through which the pilot policies influence QEGTI. Among these factors, the mediating effect of ESG performance accounts for 25.9%, that of FC accounts for 70.8%, and the chained mediating effect of ESG performance and FC accounts for 3.3%. The moderation mechanism analysis reveals that both government intellectual property protection (IPP) and social media supervision (MS) serve to amplify the favorable effects of the pilot policies on QEGTI. Furthermore, innovative talent agglomeration (ITA) enhances the moderating relationship between enterprises’ ESG and FC; (3) The pilot policies promote QEGTI in state-owned enterprises, enterprises that are not classified as heavily polluting, and enterprises located in the eastern region. This study’s findings offer empirical evidence that supports China’s effective use of pilot policies to advance nationwide green development initiatives.</p>