Daniel Esty
- Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University
- One of the world’s leading experts on corporate environmental strategy
- Former Obama Environmental Adviser
Travels From
Connecticut
Daniel Esty Speaker Biography
Daniel C. Esty is the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University. One of the world’s leading experts on corporate environmental strategy, he has advised dozens of companies in a range of industries across the world on energy, environment, and sustainability issues. 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.
Esty speaks from his wealth of experience and boundless research on green business and explains—in clear and compelling terms—how companies can obain an “eco-advantage” in the marketplace.
Leadership and scholarship. Esty holds faculty appointments in both Yale’s environment and law schools. He also serves as the director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (www.yale.edu/envirocenter) and the Center for Business & Environment at Yale (www.yale.edu/CBEY). Prior to taking up his current position at Yale, Esty was a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, served in a variety of senior positions on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and practiced law in Washington, DC. He is the author or editor of nine books and numerous articles on environmental strategy, policy, governance, and regulation, and comments frequently on environmental issues on television and radio, as well as in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, the New York Times, the Economist, Forbes and Fortune.
Esty spent the 2000–01 academic year as a Visiting Professor at INSEAD, the European business school in Fontainebleau, France. In 2002, 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.
In 2008, Esty played a significant role in President Obama’s campaign as an energy/environmental advisor. He served on the Obama Transition Team and has particular insight into the new administration’s thinking and policy direction.
An environmental advisor. As the chairman of Esty Environmental Partners (www.EstyEP), a corporate environmental strategy group with clients around the world, Esty brings both great insight and a practical, business-like approach to corporate environmental strategy issues. He sits on the board of directors Resources for the Future, and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, as well as several corporate boards.
Daniel Esty’s expertise covers myriad subjects: climate change, carbon markets, the Clean Air Act, energy, trade and the environment, and “next generation” environmental policy. An admired professor, his ease and direction when speaking connects with audiences great and small. His is an informative, engaging presentation that addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time.
Green is Good
Do you think that the recently renewed emphasis on green initiatives is somehow “bad” for business? As consumers are reevaluating the products and services they use and resources become scarcer, savvy companies should know about the opportunities available in an emerging marketplace. As Dan Esty, author of Green to Gold, makes clear, corporations can create value by building environmental thinking into their overall business strategies. Esty offers detailed case examples of how companies achieve both environmental and business success by establishing an “eco-advantage.”
The Greening of the Private Sector
In the past, it's been up to government to generate progress on environmental fronts. Esty believes the private sector is now better positioned to generate the technologies required to address environmental challenges. As economic factors-and consumers-drive a shift from regulation to market incentives, Esty shows how the private sector is increasingly meeting the challenge of producing solutions to environmental problems-and how these trends can benefit your company's success in the new marketplace.
A Changing Policy Climate
As environmental policy heats up, so do the changes that come with it. With over 25 years experience in the environmental arena, Esty provides a perspective on the fast-changing world of environmental policy at the local, national and global scales. Audiences gain the insight of his years of experience advising Fortune 500 companies on environmental strategy. Esty shows companies how to respond to this changing, dynamic business environment.
