Table 1.
Variable definition
| Variable type | Variable | Symbol | Variable description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent variable | Financial performance | ROA | Net profit/average balance of total assets |
| Independent variable | Environmental protection expenditure | EPI | Total investment in environmental protection/capital stock |
| Green technology innovation | GTI | Green R&D expenditure/operating income | |
| Control variable | Company size | SIZE | Natural logarithm of total assets at the end of the period |
| Capital structure | LEV | Year-end total liabilities/year-end total assets | |
| Current ratio | LIQ | Year-end current assets/year-end current liabilities | |
| Equity concentration | EQU | Number of shares held by the largest shareholder/total number of shares | |
| Property rights | SOE | Dummy variable, the value of state-owned holding company is 1, otherwise it is 0 | |
| Enterprise age | AGE | Add 1 to the company’s establishment year and then take the natural logarithm | |
| Year | YEAR | Set on the basis of 2015, take 1 for the current year, otherwise it is 0 |