In light of the economic volatility and the environmentally conscious state, academics must pay close attention to the issue of sustainable development. Therefore, this research analyzes how social responsibility, corporate governance, and ecological innovation have affected the Chinese coal industry’s sustainable development. This study investigates the moderating role of environmental ethics among the nexus of social responsibilities, environmental responsibilities, and sustainable development due to its growing importance for sustainability in the coal industry in China. The study used survey questionnaires to collect primary data from the coal industry employees. The research has applied the structural equation model to examine the association among the variables and test the hypotheses through Smart PLS software. The results revealed that social and environmental responsibilities and ecological innovation have a positive while corporate governance has a negative association with the sustainable development of the coal industry in China. The findings also revealed that environmental ethics significantly moderate among social responsibilities, environmental responsibilities, and sustainable development of the coal industry in China. This study guides policymakers in establishing policies related to sustainable development by improving their social and environmental-related responsibilities and adopting ecological innovation.