Dan Esty is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University with primary appointments in the Law and Environment Schools – and secondary appointments in the Management and Global Affairs Schools.

He also serves as director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (www.yale.edu/envirocenter) and as co-director of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. 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, environmental protection, regulatory reform, and sustainability -- and their connections to corporate strategy, competitiveness, sustainability metrics, and trade.  

He had a number of 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, he served as Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

He recently concluded two years of public leave from Yale – during which time he worked at the World Trade Organization helping WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala develop a sustainability strategy for the global trading system.

He co-leads the Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future Project and with a network of thoughtleaders around the world developed the Villars Framework for a Sustainable Trade System.