<p>China’s rapid advancement in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance under sustainable development and energy transition calls for a sectoral examination of its economic impact. This study makes the first attempt to examine China’s industrial linkages and economic transmission from an ESG and sustainability perspective using a novel integrated Input–Output Analysis (IOA) framework to investigate ESG-driven sustainable inter-sectoral linkages and economic transmission in China from 2018 to 2022. Combining the Modified Hypothetical Extraction Method and Structural Path Analysis, we reveal how ESG practices shape industrial connections and economic output transmission across supply chains. This study identifies the sustainable inter-sectoral linkage as a stable and ESG-driven inter-sectoral connection, measured through sustainable ESG-practices-embodied inputs and outputs. Our results show that China’s sectoral ESG performance first rose and then declined between 2018 and 2022, with social and governance dimensions leading environmental ones, and performance flowing from tertiary to secondary sectors. We further provide a more systematic evaluation indicating that high and low ESG performance intensities are concentrated in tertiary and secondary industries, respectively, demonstrating sustainable inter-sectoral linkages. Finally, we offer a more solid transmission analysis showing that ESG performance economic transmission flows from high- to low-intensity sectors. This study offers valuable insights for policymakers involved in ESG performance governance within industrial structures.</p>