Improving environmental quality and accelerating the transition to sustainable development are essential social responsibilities for enterprises. As crucial players in strategic planning, executive career concerns have a direct impact on the enterprise’s environmental strategy. We analyze the impacts and channels of executive career concerns on green transformation, using data from listed companies between 2008 and 2022. The study suggests that executive career concerns can impede corporate green transformation. Additionally, the study found that as executive career concerns increase, absorbed slack resources of the company do the same, which in turn inhibits green transformation. Furthermore, the inhibiting effect of executive career concerns on corporate green transformation is lower in companies with a higher proportion of female executives and lower internal performance pressure. This research holds great importance for corporate green transformation and enhancing internal oversight.