China’s green practices and sustainable development prioritize the construction of an ecological civilization to ensure harmonious coordination between ecological benefits and economic development. Based on panel data from 213 prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2019, this paper empirically tests the positive impact of China’s Ecological Civilization Advance Demonstration Zone (EDC) on the coupled coordination of environmental benefits and economic development (EER). The results show that: (1) The implementation of EDC significantly increased EER in the pilot area, and after a series of robustness tests, the conclusions still hold true; (2) Further mechanism analysis shows that EDC plays a role in enhancing the strength of green innovation, promoting the optimization and transformation of industrial structure, and accelerating the level of economic development; (3) The impact of EDC on EER promotion is more pronounced in the Midwest and has a certain spatial radiation effect. In the future, China can further promote ecological civilization and green development by spreading the coverage of policy implementation, taking a multi-directional approach, and adapting to local conditions.