Daniel C. Esty

Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, School of the Environment and Clinical Professor of Environmental Law & Policy, Yale Law School

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 and as co-director of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. Esty has written or edited 14 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, innovation, competitiveness, sustainability metrics, and trade. He held 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, Esty 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 thought leaders around the world, developed the Villars Framework for a Sustainable Trade System.

Explore the full programme

TCSD 2025 combines a number of live-cast public panels with a series of closed thematic brainstorming sessions and lunchtime dives, designed to deepen dialogue and generate ideas for practical outcomes, collaborations, and pathways forward.