Daniel C. Esty

Dan Esty has primary appointments in Yale’s Law and Environment Schools and secondary appointments in the Management and Global Affairs Schools. He serves as the director of the Yale Center on Environmental Law and Policy and as co-director of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. He teaches courses on corporate sustainability, climate change, environmental law and policy, and trade law. Professor Esty has written or edited fourteen books (including the prizewinning volumes Green to Gold and A Better Planet) and dozens of articles on climate change and sustainability -- and their connections to corporate strategy, innovation, competitiveness, metrics, and trade. He held several leadership roles at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1989-93 including service on the U.S. delegation that negotiated the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. From 2011-14, Professor Esty served as Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. He recently concluded two years of public service leave from Yale – during which time he worked at the World Trade Organization in Geneva helping WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to develop a sustainability agenda for the global trading system.