<p>Accurately measuring the carbon cost of industrial enterprises is not only the decision-making basis for the government to deploy “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” strategy, but also the basis for the enterprises to implement carbon emission reduction strategy. Based on the parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), this paper measured carbon cost of Chinese industrial enterprises from 2010 to 2021 and analyzed the heterogeneity from the perspective of life cycle, then explored the mechanism of carbon cost. This study found that (1) with the improvement of environmental policies and enterprises’ environmental management ability, industrial enterprises’ carbon cost showed a fluctuating downward trend, but the gap of carbon cost among enterprises showed a widening trend. (2) Heterogeneity analysis implied that carbon costs varied significantly across industries with different pollution levels, enterprise ownership, regions, and life cycles. (3) As for mechanisms, the level of human resources and carbon emission intensity both negatively affected enterprises’ carbon costs; green technology innovation mediated the relationship between human resource levels and carbon costs; media attention and executive environmental concern played moderating roles in the relationship between carbon emission intensity and carbon costs, acting as forms of external regulation and internal control. This study helps clarify the applicability of existing environmental policies and provides decision-making references for improving these policies, aiming to balance economic development with carbon reduction goals.</p>