<p>The concept of green innovation has received significant attention among environmentalists, researchers and policy makers due to its potential to address the environmental challenges. In recent years, BRICS countries, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, have been trying to adopt green innovation technologies to reconcile economic expansion with ecological sustainability. However, higher mineral dependence among BRICS countries poses greater obstacles to the transition toward green technologies. The existing literature has paid less attention to how natural resource rents determine green innovation performance of countries. Hence, the current study examines the nature of relationship between mineral resource rents and green innovation for a panel of BRICS countries from 1990 to 2023. To serve this purpose, we employed the panel quantile regression approach to produce the heterogeneous estimates at various levels of green innovation. For robustness, we used fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, and robust least square estimators. The results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship, where initial resource availability stimulates green innovation, but increased reliance on mineral resources after a certain threshold hinders green innovation. The results further indicate that trade and GDP per capita enhance green innovation performance whereas environmental policy stringency hinders it.</p>