Abstract: The improvement of enterprise carbon performance hinges on the synergistic effects of executives' environmental cognition and organizational environmental strategy. Based on the upper echelons theory and cognitive psychology, this study uses a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies in energy-intensive industries from 2010 to 2022 to systematically examine the relationships between executives' environmental cognition (cognition), environmental strategy (behavior), and enterprise carbon performance, as well as the moderating effects and economic consequences of their complementarity. The findings reveal that both executives' environmental cognition and environmental strategy significantly improve the carbon performance of energy-intensive enterprises. Moreover, executives' opportunistic environmental cognition and proactive environmental strategy, as well as executives' responsible environmental cognition and reactive environmental strategy, have significant complementary effects, which can enhance the carbon performance of energy-intensive enterprises. The moderating effects suggest that political embeddedness and regulatory distance can strengthen the complementary effect between executives' opportunistic environmental cognition and proactive environmental strategy, but weaken that between executives' responsible environmental cognition and reactive environmental strategy. The economic consequence tests show that the improved carbon performance, driven by the complementary effect of executives' environmental cognition and organizational environmental strategy, can help enterprises enhance environmental reputation, secure environmental subsidies, and mitigate environmental penalties. This study broadens the research on enterprise carbon performance by introducing the "cognition and behavior unity" perspective, offering valuable empirical insights and practical guidance for promoting the green transformation of energy-intensive enterprises.

Key words: executives' environmental cognition, environmental strategy, carbon performance, energy-intensive enterprises, "cognition and behavior unity" effect