The accelerating global energy transition has substantially increased demand for critical minerals such as copper, nickel, and lithium, positioning mining firms as key actors in the decarbonization of energy systems. However, the expansion of mineral extraction raises important sustainability challenges because mining activities remain highly energy- and carbon-intensive. This study investigates whether green innovation can simultaneously improve environmental performance and financial performance in critical mineral mining firms and examines the moderating role of institutional governance. Using a balanced panel of 35 publicly listed mining companies from Australia, Canada, Chile, Brazil, and Indonesia over the period 2015–2024, the analysis applies fixed-effects panel regressions complemented by dynamic specifications and multiple robustness tests, including alternative variable definitions and System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation. The results show that green innovation significantly reduces carbon intensity, indicating that environmental investments in renewable energy integration, electrification, and process efficiency contribute to improving emissions performance in mining operations. Green innovation also enhances firm financial performance, although the benefits emerge gradually over time, suggesting delayed financial gains followed by long-term efficiency improvements. Furthermore, governance quality strengthens the positive relationship between green innovation and firm performance, highlighting the importance of institutional environments in shaping the economic returns of sustainability strategies. By providing firm-level evidence across major mineral-producing economies, this study contributes to the literature on critical minerals, environmental finance, and the institutional dimensions of the just energy transition.

This study examines whether trading frictions extend beyond secondary-market transactions to be associated with corporate financial resilience and corporate value. Using a balanced panel of 124 non-financial firms listed on the Saudi Exchange over 2015–2025, the study introduces corporate financial resilience as a proposed channel linking trading frictions to corporate value and examines whether financial leverage moderates the trading-frictions–resilience association. Trading frictions are primarily captured by Amihud illiquidity, while financial resilience is measured through a PCA-based index combining short-term liquidity, operating cash-flow capacity, and debt-servicing capacity. The results show that greater trading frictions are associated with lower corporate value and weaker financial resilience. The mediation results are consistent with financial resilience acting as a partial statistical channel in the observed negative association between trading frictions and corporate value, while moderation analysis shows that higher financial leverage strengthens the negative association between trading frictions and financial resilience. The mediation and moderation analyses are additionally examined using stock turnover as an alternative liquidity measure. Further robustness and endogeneity checks, including alternative valuation measures, individual resilience components, lagged specifications, and System GMM estimation, support the principal direct associations. By connecting secondary-market trading conditions with corporate financial resilience, this study bridges market microstructure and corporate finance and provides new evidence from the Saudi capital market. The negative leverage interaction also remains statistically significant in a supplementary dynamic System GMM specification.