I don't expect absolute perfection from Apple but I think they are putting in good faith effort towards these improvements and are just proud of their accomplishments.

If it was strictly a feel-good PR effort then that would have the complete opposite effect if their environmental claims were found to be fabricated, and it would just take one whistleblower anywhere in their own staff, their auditing teams, or anywhere in their global supply chain to bring down that whole facade.

I agree, it seems to be something Tim Apple personally cares about and he'd not likely to want the smoke blown.

Apple has independently clamped down on suppliers without being forced to, iirc.