Environmental protection investment on performance of heavy-polluting enterprises: evidence from China's A-share listed companies.

Heavy-polluting enterprises' investment in environmental protection will have a "crowding out effect" on their other inputs, affecting enterprise performance. However, if the environmental protection investment of enterprises improves their green technology innovation ability, resulting in the "innovation compensation effect," which can offset the "crowding out effect" of environmental protection inputs, it may have a positive impact on enterprise performance. This can offset the "crowding out effect" of environmental investment and may promote the performance of enterprises.