Daniel C. Esty is the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, the Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, as well as the Director of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale. He has a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from the University of Oxford, and a J.D. from Yale University.

Professor Esty is the author or editor of nine books and numerous articles on environmental policy issues and the relationships between environment and corporate strategy, competitiveness, trade, globalization, governance, and development. His recent prizewinning book, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, argues that pollution control and natural resource management have become critical elements of marketplace success and explains how leading-edge companies have folded environmental thinking into their core business strategies.

Prior to taking up his current position at Yale, Professor Esty was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics (1993–94), served in a variety of senior positions on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1989–93), and practiced law in Washington, D.C. (1986–89). Professor Esty spent the 2000–01 academic year as a Visiting Professor at INSEAD, the European business school in Fontainebleau, France.

In 2002, Professor Esty received the American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy for “pioneering a data-driven approach to environmental decision making” and developing the global Environmental Sustainability Index. 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 the Resources for the Future and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. He is Chairman of Esty Environmental Partners, which advises leading companies on environmental strategy.