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Resources for the Future Resources for the Future (RFF) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1952, that conducts independent research into environmental, energy, and natural resource issues, primarily via economics and other social sciences. Headquartered in ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

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Steven Chu Steven Chu

Early life and education

Newell earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1997 in public policy, specializing in environmental and resource economics. Newell holds an MPA from the

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of co ...

, as well as a BS in materials engineering and a BA in philosophy from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

.

Career

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Newell was a senior associate at the global advisory and digital services provider

ICF International ICF International, Inc. is an American Public company, publicly traded consulting and technology services company based in Reston, Virginia. The company was founded in 1969, and as of 2019, had US $1.48 billion in revenue, with approximately 9,0 ...

, a teaching fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and a senior fellow at Resources for the Future. During 2005–2006, Newell served as Senior Economist for Energy and Environment on the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he worked with chairman

Ben Bernanke Ben Shalom Bernanke ( ; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Federal Reserve, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Insti ...

, providing economic analysis on issues including energy market disruptions, energy innovation, automobile fuel economy, and renewable fuels. Newell later joined

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

as the Gendell Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at the

Nicholas School of the Environment The Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment is one of ten graduate and professional schools at Duke University and is headquartered on Duke’s main campus in Durham, N.C. A secondary coastal facility, Duke University Marine Laborator ...

. There, he taught from 2007 to 2016, and in 2011 also became a professor in the university's economics department. Newell founded and directed the Duke University Energy Initiative and directed the university's Energy Data Analytics Lab. Newell took a leave of absence from the university when he was confirmed by the Senate as the seventh administrator of the

U.S. Energy Information Administration The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and pub ...

(EIA) after being nominated by President Barack Obama. He held the position from August 3, 2009 to July 1, 2011. In the role, he was responsible for directing responsible collection, analysis, and dissemination of unbiased energy information to promote sound policymaking by the

United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

. Newell left Duke University in 2016, but remained an adjunct professor at the Nicholas School. In 2016, Newell became the president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based environmental economics think tank,

Resources for the Future Resources for the Future (RFF) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1952, that conducts independent research into environmental, energy, and natural resource issues, primarily via economics and other social sciences. Headquartered in ...

. He previously worked as a senior fellow at the organization from 1997 to 2006 and has served on its board of directors since 2011. His research work at the organization covers climate policy, energy innovation, the social cost of carbon, energy efficiency, energy markets, and global energy outlooks.

Testimony, Analysis, and Commentary

Newell has testified on multiple occasions in front of the

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources, inclu ...

, most recently on global climate emissions trends and clean energy advancements. He has also testified in front of the

United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry The Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of all matters relating to the nation's agriculture industry, farming programs, forestry and logging, and legi ...

, the

United States House Committee on Natural Resources The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources or Natural Resources Committee (often referred to as simply Resources) is a U.S. Congressional committee, Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives. Originally called the ...

, and the

United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy The Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security is a subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce. It was formed during the 112th Congress from the Energy and Environment Subcommittee when a new Environment and ...

. He has been cited in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on the impacts of the US withdrawal from the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

and the impacts of Trump administration energy policy. Newell co-chaired the multi-disciplinary committee formed by the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

to inform revisions to estimates of the

social cost of carbon The social cost of carbon (SCC) is an estimate, typically expressed in dollars, of the economic damages associated with emitting one additional ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. By translating the effects of climate change into monetary t ...

. He has been cited as an authority on the social cost of carbon in media outlets like

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', and published commentaries on it in ''

Barron's ''Barron's'' (stylized in all caps) is an American weekly magazine and newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, since 1921. Founded as ''Barron's National Financial Weekly'' in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–19 ...

''. He has also written about the global

energy transition An energy transition (or energy system transformation) is a major structural change to energy supply and consumption in an energy system. Currently, a transition to sustainable energy is underway to limit climate change. Most of the sustainab ...

for

Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...

. His analysis on this subject has featured prominently in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', which described it as "thought provoking": Newell goes on that “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the story of energy requires a new script. A true energy transition will be a story of addition but also one of subtraction—in particular, reducing carbon emissions.”

Notable Research, Awards, and Memberships

Newell has published widely on topics such as energy innovation, climate policy, and energy efficiency. Newell was awarded the USAEE Adelman-Frankel Award from the US Association for Energy Economics in 2018 for contributions to the field of energy economics. His 2002 paper, "The Induced Innovation Hypothesis and Energy-Saving Technological Change," earned the 2017 Publication of Enduring Quality Award from the

Association of Environmental and Resource Economists The Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) was founded in 1979 in the United States as a means of exchanging ideas, stimulating research, and promoting graduate training in environmental and natural resource economics. The major ...

. His 2003 paper, "Discounting the Distant Future: How Much Do Uncertain Rates Increase Valuations?" was awarded the 2006 Petry Prize for the Economics of Climate Change, and later informed estimation methods for the social cost of carbon. Newell has been a research associate at the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic co ...

and a member of the USAEE,

American Economics Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, and ...

, and Association of Environmental and Resource Economics. He has served on advisory boards of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

and other institutions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newell, Richard G. 1965 births Harvard University faculty Living people Energy economists Environmental economists Princeton University alumni Harvard University alumni Rutgers University alumni Duke University faculty