The answer to this question would depend on one’s perception about profitability. Permaculture aims at designing and building sustainable systems. The very definition of sustainability stresses on the fact that there has to be a surplus in any system, for its survival.

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“A system is said to be sustainable when it produces more energy than it consumes so as to produce surplus which is enough to maintain and replace it (and its components) over its lifetime” – Geoff Lawton

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Humans, as stewards of land are a component of a system and their needs of living and maintenance are also considered while designing such a system. If this definition is studied, and if earning a surplus is earning a ‘profit’, it can be said that permaculture is profit oriented.

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At the same time, permaculture has a set of ethics and principles which need to be followed while designing such a system. By unethical here, would mean, harmful to the environment or, the society, as a whole.