This chapter is based on analyzing Porter’s hypothesis stating that pollution could be seen as a kind of resource waste and that a firm’s reuse of this waste could lead to the firm’s competitive advantage, higher R&D, product innovation, and performance. However, countries in the Europe differ due to their historical legacy. Using data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey (2019), we put Porter’s hypothesis in the context of the “catching-up” countries of Central and Eastern Europe (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). These countries differ significantly from their Western neighbors, especially in terms of lower innovation performance and environmental awareness. The results of our analyses confirm the importance of environmental regulations and their infiuence on firms’ R&D but also show them to be triggers for environmental awareness among firms. By contrast, we do not confirm the validity of the strong version of Porter’s hypothesis, which expects environmental regulations to impact the performance of firms in the countries studied. In addition, we point out an important role of firms’ R&D within product innovation processes. This chapter brings several contributions. From the theoretical point of view, we link theory regarding the validity of Porter’s hypothesis on the “catching-up literature” and on firms’ environmental awareness. From the practical perspective, we provide practical implications.