The relationship between environmental responsibility and the financial performance of Polish listed companies

The aim of the paper is to examine how the degree of achieving environmentally sustainable revenues and incurring environmentally sustainable expenditures impacts the profitability of Polish listed companies. The research method used is multiple regression analysis. The research results do not confirm the hypothesised positive impact of environmental responsibility on the financial results of companies. The greater the percentage of operating expenditures allocated to environmentally sustainable economic activities, the lower the profitability of companies measured by return on assets, return on equity and return on sales. Moreover, the percentage of revenues obtained from products or services related to environmentally sustainable economic activities is irrelevant to the level of profitability of companies. This study adds to the literature on the linkage between corporate environmental performance and financial performance, and its novelty lies in measuring the level of commitment to environmental responsibility using financial metrics based on the recently implemented EU Taxonomy Regulation.