Rajendra K. Pachauri

Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri
Born Rajendra Kumar Pachauri
(1940-08-20) 20 August 1940
Nainital, United Provinces, British India (now Uttarakhand, India)
Nationality Indian
Alma mater North Carolina State University and La Martiniere Lucknow
Occupation Ex-chief, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Ex-director General, TERI
Spouse(s) Saroj Pachauri
Children Rashmi Pachauri-Rajan (daughter)[1]

Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (born 20 August 1940) was the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He held the post from 2002 until his resignation in 2015, during which time the organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[2][3] He resigned from IPCC amid allegations of sexual abuse of a junior colleague at the New Delhi branch of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). To add to his woes, Pachauri is further caught up in a total three cases of sexual harassment. Hence, the The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) governing council removed him from the post of Director-General of the institute. In a meeting, held on the 18th of April, 2016, the governing council decided not to renew Rajendra Pachauri's contract, which was to end next July, in wake of the allegations against him. His membership with the institute, with which he had 30 years of association, ended on 31st March, 2016. Following the decision of the council, this membership too stands terminated.

Background

R.K Pachauri was born in Nainital, India. He was educated at La Martiniere College in Lucknow[4] and at the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Jamalpur, Bihar. He belongs to the Special Class Railway Apprentices, 1958 Batch, an elite scheme which heralded the beginning of mechanical engineering education in India.[5] He began his career with the Indian Railways at the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi. He joined North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA, where he obtained an MS in Industrial Engineering in 1972, and a PhD with co-majors in Industrial Engineering and Economics in 1974.[6] His doctoral thesis was titled, A dynamic model for forecasting of electrical energy demand in a specific region located in North and South Carolina.[7] He lives in Golf Links, New Delhi.[8] He is a strict vegetarian, largely because of "the environmental and climate change implications."[9]

Career

He served as Assistant Professor (August 1974 – May 1975) and Visiting Faculty Member (Summer 1976 and 1977) in the Department of Economics and Business at NC State. He was a Visiting Professor of Resource Economics at the College of Mineral and Energy Resources, West Virginia University. On his return to India, he joined the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, as Member Senior Faculty (June 1975 – June 1979) and went on to become Director, Consulting and Applied Research Division (July 1979 – March 1981). He joined The Energy and Resources Institute(TERI) as Director in 1982.[10] and presently heads the organisation. He was also a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Resource Systems Institute (1982), and Visiting Research Fellow at the World Bank, Washington DC (1990). On 20 April 2002, Pachauri was elected Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations panel established by the World Meteorological Organization(WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) to assess information relevant for understanding climate change.[11]

Pachauri was on the Board of Governors, Shriram Scientific and Industrial Research Foundation (September 1987); the Executive Committee of the India International Centre, New Delhi (1985 onwards); the Governing Council of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (October 1987 onwards); and the Court of Governors, Administrative Staff College of India (1979–81) and advises such companies as Pegasus Capital Advisors, the Chicago Climate Exchange, Toyota, Deutsche Bank and NTPC.[12] He has served as member of many societies and commissions. He has been the Member of Board of the International Solar Energy Society (1991–1997), World Resources Institute Council (1992), while Chairman of the World Energy Council (1993–1995), President and then Chairman of the International Association for Energy Economics (1988–1990), and the President of the Asian Energy Institute (Since 1992).[13] He was a part-time advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (1994—1999) in the fields of Energy and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.[14] In July 2001, Dr R K Pachauri was appointed Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.[14]

Work with the IPCC

On 20 April 2002, Pachauri was elected Chairman of the United Nations established Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.[11]

Pachauri has been vocal on the issue of climate change and said, "What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target."[15] 350 refers to the level in parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that some climate scientists such as NASA's James Hansen agree to be a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point.[16]

2007 Nobel Peace Prize for IPCC

Pachauri and Al Gore on balcony of Grand Hotel, Oslo.

The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice-President Al Gore, who had earlier criticised Pachauri when he was first elected in 2002.[17] In its press release,[18] the Nobel Prize Committee said:

...the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."[18]

On 11 December 2007, Pachauri (representing the recipient IPCC) and co-recipient Al Gore delivered their acceptance speeches at an awards ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on a day when delegates to a United Nations climate conference were meeting in Bali, Indonesia.[19] Pachauri referenced the Hindu philosophy of "'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', which means 'the whole universe is one family,'" must dominate global efforts to protect the global commons."[20] Returning to this theme throughout his speech, he quoted president of the Maldives in 1987 (Maumoon Abdul Gayoom):

"...a mean sea level rise of two meters would suffice to virtually submerge the entire country of 1,190 small islands, most of which barely rise two meters above sea level. That would be the death of a nation."[20]

Pachauri repeatedly emphasised his concerns regarding the implications of climate change for the world's poorest nations, referring to studies that:

"...have raised the threat of dramatic population migration, conflict, and war over water and other resources, as well as a realignment of power among nations. Some also highlight the possibility of rising tensions between rich and poor nations, health problems caused particularly by water shortages and crop failures...

Commitment to other organisations

Rajendra K. Pachauri is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee,[21] ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac to promote world peace.

Lighting a Billion Lives Initiative

Pachauri conceptualised and launched global Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) initiative in 2008, to facilitate clean energy access to the energy poor.[22][23] The initiative has taken solar energy to remote places such as Sundarbans, West Bengal, Thar Desert, Rajasthan, and in the state of Bihar. Being an early advocate for integration of access to clean cooking and lighting solution, the initiative has successfully deployed several thousands of Integrated Domestic Energy Systems (IDES) in rural and remote areas. It has set several benchmarks and has emphasized on access to a menu of clean energy options for the poor at last mile locations. LaBL has also been a platform for several technology manufacturers to start-up with business in the clean energy space. The initiative has its footfalls in 13 plus countries and 23 plus states of India.[24]

Controversies

Allegations of conflict of interest and financial anomalies

Christopher Booker and Richard North wrote an article for the Daily Telegraph in January 2010 alleging potential conflicts of interest related to Pachauri's membership of the board of ONGC[25] and to research grants for TERI, a non-profit institution of which Pachauri is director general.[26] They further alleged that financial anomalies existed at TERI Europe.[27] Pachauri denied all allegations.[28][29]

In response to the allegations, the audit firm KPMG carried out a review at TERI's request.[30] The review stated: "No evidence was found that indicated personal financial benefits accruing to Dr Pachauri from his various advisory roles that would have led to a conflict of interest". The report explains its objectives and methodology and states that "Work done by us was as considered necessary at that point in time" and that it is based on the information provided by TERI, Pachauri and Pachauri's tax counsel. In a caveat the review explains that its scope was "significantly different from an audit and cannot be relied on to provide the same level of assurance as an audit".[30] KPMG examined payments made by private sector companies and found that payments amounting to $326,399 were made to TERI itself, not to Pachauri.[31][32] He had received only his annual salary from TERI, amounting to £45,000 a year, plus a maximum of about £2,174 from outside earnings. He received no payment for chairing the IPCC.[33]

On 21 August 2010, the Daily Telegraph issued an apology, saying that it had "not intended to suggest that Dr Pachauri was corrupt or abusing his position as head of the IPCC and we accept KPMG found Dr Pachauri had not made "millions of dollars" in recent years." It stated: "We apologise to Dr Pachauri for any embarrassment caused."[34] The Guardian reported that the Telegraph paid legal costs of over £100,000.[33] Pachauri welcomed the Telegraph's apology, saying that he was "glad that they have finally acknowledged the truth", and attributed the false allegations to "another attempt by the climate sceptics to discredit the IPCC. They now want to go after me and hope that it would serve their purpose."[35]

George Monbiot of The Guardian stated his view that despite Pachauri being cleared by KPMG of conflict of interest and financial wrongdoing, false claims had been repeated about him by Richard North, the Daily Mail and The Australian.[36]

Following the retraction of a flawed projection regarding glacier melt in the IPCC AR4 working group II report, there were calls for him to step down as head of the IPCC, which he has rejected.[37][38][39][40]

Sexual Harassment Case

On 18 February 2015, Delhi police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Pauchauri documenting allegations of assault, sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation.[41][42] Two days later, Indian newspapers reported that a 29-year-old research analyst with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) had raised a complaint of sexual harassment against Pachauri at the institute. The Delhi High Court directed him to join the police probe.[43][44] Pachauri resigned as the head of the IPCC on 24 February 2015 while denying the allegations.[45] TERI subsequently announced that Pachauri had "proceeded on leave".[46] Ismail El Gizouli took over as acting head of the IPCC until the elections scheduled to take place in October 2015.

On March 21, the Delhi High Court granted him anticipatory bail.[47]

On 28 May 2015, Pachauri was found guilty of sexual harassment by an internal complaints committee (ICC) of TERI.[48] The findings of the ICC were challenged on the grounds of violation of the principles of natural justice.

The Delhi high Court had set 17 July 2015 as the final date for disposing off the case.[49]

The complainant resigned from TERI in November 2015 alleging further harassment.[50]

On 10 Feb 2016, another ex-employee came forward with the allegations of abuse. The woman quit the institute in 2003.[51]

Awards and recognition

Other interests

Other than his academic publications, Pachauri also writes poetry and fiction. He is the author of Return to Almora,[62] a romance novel published in 2010. The novel is in the form of the reminiscences of a retired bureaucrat, once an engineering student, about his spiritual and sexual past.[63][64] He co-wrote Moods and Musings,[65] a collection of poems, with his daughter Rashmi Pachauri-Rajan.[1]

See also


References

  1. 1 2 Saha, Romila (14 October 2007). "The Calcutta Telegraph, Oct 14, 2007". Calcutta, India: Telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "Gore accepts Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo". msnbc.msn.com. Associated Press. 10 December 2007. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010. This year's Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Rajendra Pachauri, right, of the U.N. climate panel, and Al Gore show their certificates on the podium in Oslo on Monday.
  3. ↑ Pachauri, Rajendra (10 December 2007). "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Nobel Peace Prize 2007 Nobel Lecture by R. K. Pachauri". nobelprize.org. The Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  4. ↑ "R. K. Pachauri biography on I love India website". Lifestyle.iloveindia.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  5. ↑ Manjul, Tarannum (14 October 2007). "At DLW, Pachy still brings a smile on employees' faces". Indian Express. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  6. ↑ 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner is ISE's very own Dr. Rajendra Pachauri Archived 19 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Pachauri, Rajendra K. (1974). "A dynamic model for forecasting of electrical energy demand in a specific region located in North and South Carolina". Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Padam Awards: Civilian Awards announced on January 26, 2001". Ministry of Home Affairs: Government of India. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  9. ↑ "Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC, Part 1 Robert Goodland Memorial Lecture, World Bank". youtube.com. Chomping Climate Change. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014. One of the things that people leveled as a charge against me was, 'this Hindu vegetarian.' I mean, they thought my vegetarianism was driven by the fact that I was born a Hindu. But the reality is I give up eating meat about fifteen or sixteen years ago largely because of what I saw as the environmental and climate change implications.
  10. 1 2 "Dr. R.K. Pachauri". 11 October 2003. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2008. To acknowledge his immense contribution to the field of environment, he has been awarded the Padma Bhushan – one of India's highest civilian awards that recognizes distinguished service of a high order to the nation in any field (January 2001).
  11. 1 2 "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Elects Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri as its Chairman". IPCC. 20 April 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  12. ↑ "Capital Markets Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P.". businessweek.com. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 1 February 2010. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  13. ↑ "R.K. Pachauri Biography – R.K. Pachauri Profile, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri Timeline". Lifestyle.iloveindia.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Biography: Dr. R.K. Pachauri". Climatescience.gov. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  15. ↑ Hood, Marlowe (25 August 2009). "Top UN climate scientist backs ambitious CO2 cuts". AFP. Google News. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010. "But as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target," he told AFP in an interview.
  16. ↑ Whitesides, Loretta Hidalgo (28 December 2009). "NASA's James Hansen Says Atmospheric CO2 is Already Beyond Safe Limit". Wired. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010.
  17. ↑ "Pachauri buries Gore feud after Nobel". Reuters. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  18. 1 2 "The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 – press release". nobelprize.org. The Norwegian Nobel Committee. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  19. ↑ "Gore Accepts Nobel Prize With Call for Bold Action", Mary Jordan, Washington Post, p. A14, 11 December 2007.
  20. 1 2 Transcript of Nobel Prize speech from Democracy Now! website.
  21. ↑ Fondation Chirac's honour committee
  22. ↑ "Business Line : Features / BrandLine News". Thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  23. ↑ "Lighting a Billion Lives - About us". labl.teriin.org. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  24. ↑ "Lighting a Billion Lives - Evolution". labl.teriin.org. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  25. ↑ Singh, Ajmer, "Pachauri in a spot as climategate hits TERI", India Today, 10 January 2010.
  26. ↑ Mendick, Robert, "Taxpayers' millions paid to Indian institute run by UN climate chief", The Daily Telegraph, 16 January 2010.
  27. ↑ Booker, Christopher, and Richard North, The curious case of the expanding environmental group with falling income", The Daily Telegraph, 17 January 2010.
  28. ↑ Pachauri, Rajendra, "Climate change has no time for delay or denial" The Guardian, 4 January 2010.
  29. ↑ The Hindu, "TERI denies charges against Pachauri", Chennai: 24 December 2009.
  30. 1 2 "KPMG review of personal financial records of Dr Rajendra Pachauri". The Guardian (London). 26 August 2010.
  31. ↑ George Monbiot; James Randerson (26 August 2010). "Rajendra Pachauri cleared of financial misdealings | Environment". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  32. ↑ "FT.com / In depth – Climate chief cleared over payments". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  33. 1 2 Monbiot, George (26 August 2010). "Rajendra Pachauri innocent of financial misdealings but smears will continue". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  34. ↑ "Daily Telegraph apologises to Pachauri over damning article". Deccan Herald. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  35. ↑ "Daily Telegraph apologises to Pachauri". Hindustan Times. Press Trust of India. 21 August 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  36. ↑ Monbiot, George (1 September 2010). "Press continue to hound Rajendra Pachauri despite his innocence". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  37. ↑ Chamberlain, Gethin (29 January 2010). "Indian glaciologist criticised by IPCC chief joins calls for resignation". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  38. ↑ "Samson in Elsevier". Elsevier.nl. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  39. ↑
  40. ↑ Washington, 9 Feb, (PTI):. "US Senator seeks Pachauri's resignation". Deccanherald.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  41. ↑ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-05-23/news/62544230_1_rk-pachauri-internal-complaints-committee-sexual-harassment
  42. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/delhi-police-fir-against-r-k-pachauri-on-charges-of-sexual-harassment/
  43. ↑ Ohri, Raghav (20 February 2015). "Delhi High Court Directs Rajendra Kumar Pachauri to Join Police Probe". The Economic Times (New Delhi). Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  44. ↑ "Delhi Police FIR against R K Pachauri on Charges of Sexual Harassment". The Indian Express (New Delhi). 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  45. ↑ "UN climate head Rajendra Pachauri resigns". BBC News. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  46. ↑ Menon, Meena (February 24, 2015). "R.K. Pachauri steps down as IPCC chair". The Hindu. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  47. ↑ "Rajendra Pachauri granted Anticipatory Bail in Sexual Harassment Case". news.biharprabha.com. ANI. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  48. ↑ "Delhi HC issues notices to government, TERI, RK Pachauri in sexual harassment case". Economic Times. ET Bureau. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2016. ...director general RK Pachauri despite his being found guilty of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation by the organisation's internal complaints committee (ICC).
  49. ↑ "RK Pachauri sexual harassment case: Court sets July 17 as the date for final disposal of the matter". news.biharprabha.com. ANI. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  50. ↑ Ohri, Raghav (4 November 2015). "Complainant in sexual harassment case against RK Pachauri case quits TERI". Economic Times. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  51. ↑ "2nd victim, student protests and a court case: Curious case of Pachauri". Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times Correspondents. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  52. ↑ "Lifestyle Sitemap". Lifestyle.iloveindia.com. 15 November 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  53. ↑ "Nature names Pachauri Newsmaker of the Year – Tech News – IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  54. ↑ "Pachauri". unido.org. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  55. ↑ "Padma Awards announced". Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  56. ↑ "Pachauri, Krishnamurthy conferred with high Japanese honour", newKerala.com (New Dehli), 3 November 2009, retrieved 7 January 2010
  57. ↑ "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers – 5. Rajendra Pachauri". Foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  58. ↑ "Dr R K Pachauri conferred with The Order of the White Rose of Finland". Teriin.org. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  59. ↑ Iqbal, Mohammed (21 October 2009). "Jaipur Professor gets highest French honour". The Hindu (Chennai, India).
  60. ↑ "HEC appoints Rajendra K. Pachauri Professor Honoris Causa". MBA Channel. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  61. ↑ http://www.univ-reims.fr/vie-des-campus/actualites,10453,19060.html?&args=Y29tcF9pZD04NiZhY3Rpb249ZGV0YWlsJmlkPTY2OCZ8 accessed 1 October 2012
  62. ↑ Pachauri, Rajendra K. (2010). Return To Almora. Rupa & Co. ISBN 978-81-291-1574-4.
  63. ↑ Anjali Joseph (23 January 2010). "Return to Almora: A spiritual potboiler – Book Mark – Sunday TOI". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2010. Despite its ostensible interest in matters numinous, the novel is actually a potboiler, perhaps of a new subcategory – the spiritual potboiler.
  64. ↑ Mendick, Robert; Amrit Dhillon (30 January 2010). "Revealed: the racy novel written by the world's most powerful climate scientist". telegraph.co.uk (London: The Daily Telegraph). Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2009. The chair of the UN's panel on climate change Dr Rajendra Pachauri has taken a break from writing academic papers on global warming to pen a racey romantic novel.
  65. ↑ Pachauri, Rajendra K.; Rashmi Pachauri-Rajan (2003). Moods and musings. Writers Workshop. ISBN 978-81-7189-468-0.

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Political offices
Preceded by
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2002–2015 		Succeeded by
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