In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on sustainable development within society. To achieve the sustainability goals set by governments, companies require equipment and capital that differ from their regular operational needs. Green bonds, as a sustainable financial instrument, serve as a crucial funding channel for enterprises. This study uses annual data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning 11 years, from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2022, as the sample. The EIV model is employed to estimate the relationship between the company’s market performance, financial performance, and various variables. The empirical results show that the expected value of ESG performance, company size, financial leverage, market-to-book ratio, the period during the COVID-19 pandemic, issuance of green bonds, and interaction effect variables related to green bond issuance all have significant impacts on both return on assets and stock price returns.