Under the guidance of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, how to guide enterprises to embark on a green and low-carbon development path and improve the environmental information disclosure system is an important issue that urgently needs to be addressed in the process of promoting China’s green economic transition. Based on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2023, this paper employs a difference-in-differences model to analyze the impact of green factory certification on corporate carbon information disclosure quality. The study finds that green factory certification significantly improves corporate carbon information disclosure quality. Mechanism tests show that green factory certification enhances carbon information disclosure quality by optimizing environmental management systems, promoting green technology R&D, and strengthening reputation incentive. Heterogeneity tests indicate that in enterprises with high human capital levels, green factory certification promotes the improvement of carbon information disclosure quality; non-key pollution-emitting enterprises gain stronger reputation incentives from the certification, leading to a more pronounced effect; and enterprises without greenwashing behavior and those with voluntary disclosure show a positive response to the policy. Further analysis reveals that the demonstration effect of green factories can drive peer firms in the same industry to increase environmental investment, generating a significant environmental spillover effect, while the spillover effect on other firms in the same city is not significant. The conclusions reveal the institutional innovation value of green manufacturing system construction in improving carbon emission information disclosure mechanisms, and provide theoretical references and practical implications for improving corporate environmental quality under the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.