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Trade and the environment are two grave concerns of sustainable development in the new development pattern of the Chinese economy. Reducing corporate pollution intensity (CPI) is an essential means of securing economic sustainability, energy conservation, and emissions reduction, and participating in global value chains (GVCs) is a key driver of CPI reduction. Based on the elucidation of the mechanism by which GVC position affects CPI through technological innovation, this paper used the matching data of the enterprise pollution discharge database, the customs import and export database, the enterprise patent database, and the industrial enterprise database from 2000 to 2014 to empirically test the impact of GVC position on CPI. Furthermore, the robustness of the core conclusions was further verified by using the data of listed companies and manufacturing sub-sectors from 2010 to 2019. The main conclusions were as follows: ① GVC position generally showed a positive environmental effect. GVC position could reduce the pollution emissions per unit of output value of enterprises. This core conclusion still held after robustness tests such as replacement of measurement indicators, replacement of sample data, and endogenous discussions. ② The results of the analysis of the mechanism of action showed that GVC position would reduce CPI through the output effect and technological innovation effect. ③ The results of the heterogeneity analysis showed that, under different corporate ownership types, technical levels, and regional characteristics, GVC position had a more obvious impact on improving the environmental effects of foreign-funded enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and enterprises in China’ s eastern region. ④ The research perspective of the article shifted from the micro-enterprise level to the meso-level industry level. The results of the dynamic decomposition of pollutant emission intensity at the industry level showed that the contribution of the resource reallocation effect to the reduction of industry pollution emission intensity was 55.39%, and it was an important channel for GVC position to pollution intensity. To this end, the study puts forward relevant policy suggestions from the aspects of implementing a more active opening strategy, enhancing the technological innovation capabilities of enterprises, and encouraging the coordinated development of multi-type enterprises and regional coordinated development, providing theoretical support and empirical evidence for promoting high-quality economic development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]