Daniel J. Metzger

Daniel Metzger is the Director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative at the Sabin Center and an Associate Research Scholar at Columbia Law School. His work focuses on the legal tools that cities and other local governments use to advance climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition to his academic research on urban climate law, Dan works directly with city legal departments, sustainability offices, partner organizations, and the networks that connect them—providing research, resources, and analysis on the legal questions shaping the urban climate transition.

Dan joined the Sabin Center in 2023 as a Smart Surfaces Fellow, where he focused on legal issues related to reflective and porous pavements, green roofs, solar PV, urban forestry, and other climate-responsive infrastructure at the metropolitan and community scale. Prior to that role, he was a litigator with the Southern Environmental Law Center, where he advocated for a just transition to renewable electricity generation in the Southeast. He has also served as a Climate Law Fellow at the Sabin Center, an associate at a litigation boutique, and a judicial clerk in the Eastern District of New York. 

Dan is a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, where he was the Executive Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and a member of the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review. He also completed a master’s degree in natural resource management at Iceland’s University Centre of the Westfjords. He has been a member of environmental law committees for the American Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association.