Businesses also have wide latitude in how they interpret profit mandate. They're allowed to make purely gut-driven predictions and take huge risks with little evidence on the grounds that a payoff is on the horizon.

Tim Cook could blandly assert that environmental greenness does increase profits and then just hand wave in some fuzzy math about hypothetical waste management or non-renewable material costs or public sentiment. And who could argue with him over a 20 year time horizon?

You can say whatever you want as a CEO and most people will reflexively trust you simply because you're in a position of authority.