A Conversation with Carnegie Ethics Fellow Nadav Avihay

Was there a moment for you that made you interested in ethics in your professional or personal life?

Serving in the military forces you to face many ethical dilemmas and make quick decisions with severe real-life consequences. As a soldier and commander, you need to execute government policies and follow orders, while putting your life at risk to defend, sometimes at the expense of your enemies' lives. My experiences in the army revealed the gap between abstract ethical principles and the messy reality of moral choices under pressure. I learned that ethics isn't just philosophical theory; it's about navigating moral tensions and the weight and loss we carry with us.

That's when I realized I needed to understand ethics more deeply, not just to rationalize past decisions, but to develop better frameworks for future ones. I pursued a career in international affairs and sustainable development with the goal of building bridges and promoting sustainable practices for a better future.

How did you find out about the Carnegie Ethics Fellowship? Why did you think it would be a good fit for you?

I first discovered Carnegie Council through my academic work, where its research shaped my understanding of ethics in policy and leadership. But it wasn't until I moved to New York City and joined the Carnegie New Leaders program that I truly experienced the organization's impact firsthand. Attending lectures and events opened my eyes to the vibrant community Carnegie has built: one where practitioners, scholars, and emerging leaders grapple with the most pressing ethical questions of our time.

What drew me specifically to the Fellowship was its distinctive focus on applied ethics: bridging theory and practice in ways that can inform real-world decision-making. My experiences as an officer and a sustainable development practitioner have shown me how critical this bridge is, and I saw the Fellowship as an opportunity to develop frameworks that will make me a more thoughtful, effective leader.

You work as a sustainability associate for a large real estate company. What are some ethical dilemmas that you've seen or had to deal with in regards to sustainability or climate action?

One of the central tensions I navigate is between quarterly financial performance and long-term climate action, a challenge magnified in publicly traded real estate where investor expectations often reward short-term gains over necessary but slower-payback investments. For example, as we're developing building-specific decarbonization plans, we need to balance energy retrofits' significant consumption and emissions reductions against their multi-year payback period. In a market where investors scrutinize quarterly results, proposing projects with longer ROI (return on investment) could impact our competitive position.

The ethical complexity deepens when you consider who pays. If we absorb the costs, we divert capital from other sustainability initiatives, potentially doing less overall good. If we pass costs to tenants through higher rent, we're asking them to subsidize climate action they didn't choose, which could price out smaller businesses or nonprofits. There's also the intergenerational dimension: Delaying action because of unfavorable economics today means passing greater climate risks to future stakeholders. Yet moving too aggressively without buy-in can undermine the political capital needed for broader change across our portfolio.

What makes this particularly challenging is that there's no clear "right" answer: only tradeoffs between fiduciary responsibility, climate urgency, fairness in cost distribution, and long-term resilience.

What is the role of companies and businesses when it comes to promoting ethics? What are some positive examples that you've seen of the private sector embracing and promoting ethical practices?

Ethical conduct has long been fundamental to business: from following laws and regulations to enforcing anti-corruption policies and transparent reporting. However, with the emergence of concepts such as corporate social responsibility, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) initiatives, and corporate sustainability, companies had to start identifying, assessing, and managing non-financial risks stemming from their dependencies and impact on the environment and broader society. Companies are now expected to consider their broader stakeholder ecosystem, including employees, communities, supply chain partners, and future generations, rather than solely focusing on shareholder returns.

Today, businesses play a critical role in shaping ethical standards through their scale, reach, and influence on our everyday lives. Within industries, they set benchmarks through their own practices, influencing competitors and suppliers to adopt similar standards. Externally, companies have the resources to implement systemic changes that individual consumers or small organizations cannot achieve alone. For example, media companies can help shift cultural norms and public discourse about what constitutes responsible business behavior or what is socially appropriate. Unfortunately, some companies are using this power to promote unethical practices.

There are many positive examples. Patagonia has become a model for environmental responsibility, donating 1 percent of sales to environmental causes. Microsoft has made significant strides in AI ethics by establishing principles for responsible AI development, creating an AI ethics committee, and implementing impact assessments for high-risk AI applications. And SL Green buildings are operating according to the highest standards and green buildings certifications. From my experience, the most positive outcomes happen when companies harmonize ethical considerations with core business KPIs (key performance indicators), finding ways to do well while also doing good.

What have you learned about ethics and leadership in the Fellowship so far that you have brought back to your personal or professional life?

The Fellowship has exceeded my expectations for the depth and relevance of topics we discussed, and the level of openness our cohort has shown during our conversations. Above all, I feel energized by my cohort—a talented group dedicated to promoting ethics and genuinely passionate about making the world a better place. Through collaboration, we can make a real difference.

More specifically, I learned that ethics is a word we should use more often and we should not shy away from challenging ourselves and our families, friends, and colleagues to say what is morally right, even when it's uncomfortable or unpopular. Ethics shouldn't be an abstract concept reserved for philosophy classrooms. It should be an active part of our everyday decision-making.

In my professional life, I've started bringing ethical frameworks more explicitly into team discussions, asking questions like "Who is affected by this decision?" and "What values am I reinforcing?" rather than focusing solely on the business case. The Fellowship reinforced that ethical leadership isn't about having all the answers: It's about creating space for honest dialogue, modeling intellectual humility, and being willing to change course when needed.

Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit. The views expressed within this article are those of the Fellow and do not necessarily reflect the position of Carnegie Council.