Daniel C. Esty is a professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University.  He holds faculty appointments in both Yale’s Environment and Law Schools. He is the Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy as well as the Yale World Fellows Program.

Professor Esty is the author or editor of eight books and numerous articles on environmental policy issues and the relationships between the environment and trade, competitiveness, globalization, security, international institutions, and development.  His current research agenda includes projects on environmental performance measurement, a rethinking of corporate environmental strategy, global environmental governance, and “next generation” approaches to pollution control and natural resource management.

Prior to taking up his current position at Yale, Professor Esty was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics, a Washington, D.C., think tank.  From 1989-93, he served in a variety of positions on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency including Special Assistant to the EPA Administrator, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Agency, and Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy.  During his tenure at the EPA, Professor Esty managed the EPA’s regulatory review process, coordinated inter-Agency relations, and contributed to a number of policy initiatives including the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. He also negotiated several international agreements on behalf of the EPA including the 1992 Climate Change Convention, the environmental provisions of NAFTA, and various elements of the agreements concluded at the Rio Earth Summit.

Professor Esty spent the 2000-01 academic year as a visiting Professor at INSEAD, the European business school in Fontainebleau, France.  He served four years as an elected Planning and Zoning Commissioner in his hometown of Cheshire, Connecticut.  He sits on the Board of Directors of several companies and environmental groups.

Professor Esty received his B.A. in economics summa cum laude from Harvard University and his J.D. from Yale, where he was executive editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation. He was a Rhodes Scholar from 1981-1983.

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