Given the tightening constraints on environmental resources and rising external uncertainties, it is crucial for the manufacturing industry to build resilience against external disruptions and enhance its green innovation resilience (GIR). Big data, as a transformative force for green and low-carbon development in the new era, presents a valuable opportunity to boost GIR in manufacturing enterprises. Understanding how to leverage big data to strengthen GIR is essential for achieving sustainable development. This study uses China's national big data comprehensive pilot zone (NBDCPZ) policy as a natural experiment, applying difference-in-differences and mediation effect models to examine the policy's impact on manufacturing GIR and its underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that big data significantly enhances the GIR of manufacturing enterprises, with more pronounced effects observed in non-state-owned enterprises, non-heavy polluting enterprises, and enterprises located in the eastern region of China. Mechanism analysis indicates that big data improves GIR by increasing investor attention, raising public environmental awareness, and enhancing enterprises’ risk-bearing capacity. The finding suggests that expanding the scope of NBDCPZ policy pilot zones, improving big data service platforms, and tailoring policies to the specific characteristics of enterprises are essential for fully realizing the benefits of big data. This study provides valuable insights for advancing GIR in the manufacturing sector and innovating big data economic policies.