"[21] Newell earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1997 in public policy, specializing in environmental and resource economics.

Newell holds an MPA from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, as well as a BS in materials engineering and a BA in philosophy from Rutgers University.

[24] Newell later joined Duke University as the Gendell Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at the Nicholas School of the Environment.

[32][33] Newell co-chaired the multi-disciplinary committee formed by the National Academy of Sciences to inform revisions to estimates of the social cost of carbon.

[37] His analysis on this subject has featured prominently in the Financial Times,[38][39] which described it as "thought provoking": [Newell] argued that "there has never been an energy transition" because, as each new technology has emerged, it has merely added to older sources, rather than replacing them.Newell goes on that “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the story of energy requires a new script.

[43] 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.

was awarded the 2006 Petry Prize for the Economics of Climate Change, and later informed estimation methods for the social cost of carbon.