I think the wide latitude for judgement thing also has more impact that people realize. An executive needs to have a reason to believe their actions we’re maxi

I think the wide latitude for judgement thing also has more impact that people realize. An executive needs to have a reason to believe their actions we’re maximizing, but that’s all they really need. So, if an executive can article a plausible case that, in their judgment the PR benefit from operating above the environment standards would bring more long term value than the cash expenditure to do so, they’re probably pretty well insulated from a shareholder lawsuit over it. They can obviously be fired by the board/shareholders over such decisions at any time, but they would probably not lose a shareholder brought lawsuit. You really need to be able to convincingly argue that you genuinely believed the course of action you took was in the interest of the shareholders. As long as that’s true (an email in discovery that says “this isn’t in the interest of the shareholders, but I think it’s important for the planet” would be awful for the executive, but internal communications or reports demonstrating the long term benefits of the strategy would help a lot).