Many business entities still prioritize profits over environmental protection and perceive these two goals as inherently incompatible. Thus, this study examines the impact of environmentally oriented investments on the firms’ integration into global value chains (GVCs). Using firm-level data in 41 countries from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), we show that firms could raise their opportunity to participate in GVCs by adopting environment protection actions through the mediation of productivity gains, yet the impact of adopting such actions on the intensity of GVC participation tends to be negligible. Likewise, larger firms are more likely to experience a raise of their chance to participate in international trade through environmental upgrading rather than their smaller counterparts. This finding is important since firms are increasingly being held accountable for their significant contribution in the environment degradation.