Sustainability Metrics and Policy

The Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, a joint undertaking between Yale Law School and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, advances fresh thinking and analytically rigorous approaches to understanding the roles of data and metrics at the nexus of environmental science, policymaking, and sustainable development. The Center is directed by Professor Daniel Esty, an environmental lawyer internationally renowned for his groundbreaking research into environmental metrics, green corporate strategy, and sustainable development. The Center seeks Tobin Assistants with a passion for quantifying environmental issues and an interest in the relationships between environmental science and policy. The Tobin Assistants will work closely with Dr. Martin Wolf and Professor Esty to formulate the 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) report. The EPI is a premier framework for global environmental policy analysis. The biennial report compiles national-scale scorecards that highlight leaders and laggards in environmental performance and detail best practices in sustainable development. The EPI report is widely read by policymakers, scholars, NGO leaders, and the media to gain insight on trends in sustainability.

Tobin Assistants will work with Dr. Wolf and Professor Esty to develop new metrics that quantify climate change, air pollution, sustainable economies, and other issues related to sustainable development. Depending on the Assistant’s interests and background, possible research tasks include:

• Exploration, analysis, and visualization of global environmental datasets;
• Assistance with quantifying and ranking countries environmental impacts and performance;
• Performing literature reviews and writing memos on issues relating to sustainable development; and
• Assistance with other tasks and duties to further the EPI research agenda.