Although the influencing mechanism of environmental regulation on technological innovation has been widely discussed in academia, few studies analysed the collaborative effect of mandatory and non-mandatory environmental regulations. Based on the panel data of 419 Chinese emerging firms from 2010 to 2015, this article discussed the coupling mechanism of mandatory regulations and voluntary certifications in the process of corporate technological innovation. The results showed that: First, regional environmental regulation has a positive effect on environmental management system certification, while industry environmental regulation has no significant effect on environmental management system certification. Second, industry environmental regulation negatively affects corporate innovation performance, while regional environmental regulation positively affects corporate innovation performance. Third, environmental management system certification positively moderates the relationship between mandatory environmental regulation (i.e., industry regulation and regional regulation) and corporate innovation performance. •We discuss the coupling effect of mandatory and voluntary regulations on innovation.•Industry environmental regulation stimulates environmental management certification.•The effect of industry and regional regulation on corporate innovation is opposite.•Environmental management certification has a positive moderating effect.