• CERAWEEK 2025 | March 10-14, 2025
  • CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Richard G. Newell

Resources for the Future (RFF)

President & Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Richard G. Newell is the President and CEO of Resources for the Future (RFF), an independent nonprofit research institution that improves environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. He has held senior government appointments as the Administrator of the US Energy Information Administration and as the Senior Economist for energy and environment on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Dr. Newell was previously the Gendell Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at Duke and Director of its Energy Initiative and is now adjunct professor. He has published widely on the economics of markets and policies for climate change, the energy transition, and technology innovation. He is a board member or advisor at the National Academy of Sciences Climate Security Roundtable, the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, the National Petroleum Council, and several other institutions and co-chaired a formative National Academies study on the social cost of greenhouse gases. Newell holds a PhD from Harvard and an MPA from Princeton.

Sessions With Richard G. Newell

Tuesday, 10 March

  • 11:30am - 12:30pm (CST) / -

    Moving Oil & Gas to Markets: Pipeline politics & finance

    Oil & gas companies will continue to need pipelines to move product to market to facilitate growth. However, climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects, and across the globe, more companies are grappling with investor demands to be more socially responsible. In North America, where exports of oil and natural gas have dramatically increased in recent years, pipeline companies have provided a critical role in developing the infrastructure needed to accommodate this growth. How are pipeline companies responding to investor demands? Are they preparing for an energy transition? Is it getting harder to finance projects? 

Wednesday, 11 March

Thursday, 12 March

  • 12:30pm - 01:20pm (CST) / -

    Nature-based Solutions: Answer to carbon mitigation?
    Climate & Sustainability Clean Tech

    The energy transition is putting companies under intense pressure to reduce carbon emissions, so many players are looking for innovative ways to cut back on their businesses’ emissions. Natural solutions, including innovative shifts in reforestation, agricultural practice, and mangrove conservation, are helping to mitigate carbon footprints from energy production and consumption, while promoting a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem. What is the carbon-mitigation potential and cost? How do nature-based solutions connect to new climate policy targets to achieve net zero emissions? How can energy companies develop nature-based, non-energy assets?