Abstract: In the new development stage, promoting the green economic transformation and achieving sustainable development are closely aligned with China’s "dual carbon" objectives. Although some scholars have studied influencing factors of ESG rating disagreement, few have explored the role of management characteristics in this context. Based on this, the study takes the A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2018 to 2022 as samples to explore whether the green cognition of senior executives will affect the ESG rating disagreement. The findings reveal that the green awareness of senior executives significantly reduces ESG rating disagreement. Mechanism analysis indicates that senior executives’ green cognition enhances information transparency through both public and non-public channels, effectively reducing information asymmetry and thereby lowering ESG rating disagreement. Further analysis reveals that in the samples of non-state-owned enterprises, non-heavy-polluting enterprises and large enterprises, the effect of executives’ green cognition in narrowing the ESG rating disagreement is more significant. This article enriches the literature on senior executives’ green cognition and ESG rating disagreement, providing new path guidance and theoretical support for the standardized development of ESG ratings.

Key words: executive green cognition, ESG rating disagreement, information asymmetry