According to the report "Global Innovation Index 2023" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China's global innovation index(GII)ranks 12th, indicating that the government must speed up the construction of the technological innovation system. Enterprises also need to increase investment in innovation. At the same time, enterprises inevitably face the issue of sustainable development. ESG rating is an indicator to measure the ability of sustainable development and the potential of enterprises. In recent years, the Chinese government has advocated a new concept of high-quality development, which is positively aligned with the ESG concept. However, some companies also believe that the ESG concept is a policy requirement and rule limitation and cannot improve the competitiveness of the enterprise. At the same time, domestic scholars lack research on ESG, mainly on the relationship between ESG and financial indicators. This article selects listed companies from 2013 to 2022 as research samples to study the relationship between ESG ratings and patent applications, conduct regression analysis, and clarify the positive effect of ESG indicators on the innovation ability of enterprises. At the same time, heterogeneity testing is conducted for different market sizes, and this promoting effect is more significant for large-scale enterprises. The conclusion provides direction for further promoting the implementation of ESG concepts in enterprises. The government, society, and enterprises should all play their roles to jointly promote the high-quality development of enterprises.