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Pachauri defended the prediction of the IPCC that glaciers would disappear from the Himalayas by 2035 <ref>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Glaciologist-demands-apology-from-Pachauri-for-voodoo-remark/articleshow/5477796.cms</ref> before admitting that an error was made <ref>http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/glacier.himalayas.ipcc.error/?hpt=Sbin</ref>.
Pachauri defended the prediction of the IPCC that glaciers would disappear from the Himalayas by 2035 <ref>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Glaciologist-demands-apology-from-Pachauri-for-voodoo-remark/articleshow/5477796.cms</ref> before admitting that an error was made <ref>http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/glacier.himalayas.ipcc.error/?hpt=Sbin</ref>.

TERI won two research grants to study the implications of the erroneous prediction.<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7177323/Questions-over-awards-given-by-worlds-top-climate-scientist.html</ref> Although Pachauri argued that there was probably only one error in the [http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html Fourth Assessment Report]by the IPCC, other errors were found. <ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6999051.ece</ref><ref>http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/08/2813722.htm?section=justin</ref>


These mistakes led to some asking him to step down as head of the IPCC.<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6999815.ece Times Online</ref><ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/29/ipcc-rajendra-pachauri-glaciers</ref><ref>http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Wetenschap/256661/PvdA-erkent-geblunder-VN-Klimaatchef-moet-weg.htm Samson in Elsevier</ref><ref>http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geoffreylean/100023489/pachauri-must-quit-as-head-of-official-science-panel/</ref><ref>http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,673765,00.html Pielke, Tol and Von Storch in Der Spiegel</ref><ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7014203.ece</ref><ref>http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/aktuell/2287655_Rajendra-Pachauri-UN-Klimapapst-soll-abdanken.html Grassl in Frankfurter Rundschau</ref><ref>http://www.ptinews.com/news/508208_US-Senator-seeks-IPCC-chairman-Pachauri-s-resignation Barrosso in PTI</ref><ref>http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/866/503094/text/ HJ Schellnhuber in Sueddeutsche</ref>
These mistakes led to some asking him to step down as head of the IPCC.<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6999815.ece Times Online</ref><ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/29/ipcc-rajendra-pachauri-glaciers</ref><ref>http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Wetenschap/256661/PvdA-erkent-geblunder-VN-Klimaatchef-moet-weg.htm Samson in Elsevier</ref><ref>http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geoffreylean/100023489/pachauri-must-quit-as-head-of-official-science-panel/</ref><ref>http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,673765,00.html Pielke, Tol and Von Storch in Der Spiegel</ref><ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7014203.ece</ref><ref>http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/aktuell/2287655_Rajendra-Pachauri-UN-Klimapapst-soll-abdanken.html Grassl in Frankfurter Rundschau</ref><ref>http://www.ptinews.com/news/508208_US-Senator-seeks-IPCC-chairman-Pachauri-s-resignation Barrosso in PTI</ref><ref>http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/866/503094/text/ HJ Schellnhuber in Sueddeutsche</ref>

Revision as of 18:00, 27 February 2010

Rajendra K. Pachauri
Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
Born (1940-08-20) August 20, 1940 (age 83)
Nainital, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British Raj (now Uttarakhand, India)
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Chief, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Former Director General, TERI
SpouseSaroj Pachauri
ChildrenDaughter Rashmi Pachauri-Rajan.[1]


Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (born August 20, 1940) has served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002. He has also been director general of TERI, a research and policy organization in India, and chancellor of TERI University. He has also been the chairman of the governing council of the National Agro Foundation (NAF), as well as the chairman of the board of Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Pachauri has been outspoken about climate change.

At the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony when the award was shared between Al Gore and the IPCC on December 10, 2007, Pachauri represented the IPCC.[2] [3]

Background

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 began his career with the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi.

Pachauri was awarded an MS degree in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, in 1972, as well as a joint Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Economics in 1974.[5]

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.

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 TERI as Director in April 1981. [6]

He lives in Golf Links, New Delhi.[7]

HEC Paris appointed Pachauri Professor Honoris Causa in October 2009.[8] He is a strict vegetarian, partly due to his beliefs as a Hindu, and partly because of the impact of meat-production on the environment.[9]

He is the author of Return to Almora[10], 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.[11] [12] He co-wrote Moods and Musings[13], a collection of poems, with his daughter Rashmi Pachauri-Rajan.[1]

Career

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, GloriOil, the Chicago Climate Exchange, Toyota, Deutsche Bank and NTPC.[14]

On 14 July 2008, Pachauri received the title UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador.

Pachauri has been awarded the Padma Bhushan[6] by the Indian government and ‘Officer of the Legion of Honour’ by the French government.

Work with the IPCC

On 20 April 2002, Pachauri was elected Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations panel established by the WMO and UNEP to assess information relevant for understanding climate change.[15]

Pachauri has been outspoken on 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."[16] 350 refers to the level in parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that top climate scientists such as NASA's James Hansen agree to be a safe upper limit in order to avoid a climate tipping point.[17]

2007 Nobel Peace Prize for IPCC

File:Nobel Peace Prize winners Gore & Pachauri in Grand Hotel, Norway 2-2.jpg
Pachauri and Al Gore on balcony of Grand Hotel, Oslo.

The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore,who had earlier criticised Pachauri when he was first elected in 2002.[18] In its press release,[19] 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."[19]

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.[20] 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."[21] Returning to this theme throughout his speech, he quoted president of the Maldives in 1987:

"...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."[21]

Pachauri repeatedly emphasized 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...

Controversy

In a series of articles, the Daily Telegraph asserted that Pachauri has a conflict of interest between his role as the chairperson of the IPCC and his roles as an advisor on energy and environment to a range of companies and organisations.[22][23] Later reports focussed on Pachauri's membership of the board of ONGC,[24] research grants for TERI[25] and alleged financial anomalies at TERI Europe.[26] Pachauri has denied all allegations.[27] [28]

Pachauri defended the prediction of the IPCC that glaciers would disappear from the Himalayas by 2035 [29] before admitting that an error was made [30].

TERI won two research grants to study the implications of the erroneous prediction.[31] Although Pachauri argued that there was probably only one error in the Fourth Assessment Reportby the IPCC, other errors were found. [32][33]

These mistakes led to some asking him to step down as head of the IPCC.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]

Awards and recognitions

  • In January 2001, he received the Padma Bhushan.[7][6]
  • In January 2008, he was awarded the second-highest civilian award in India, the Padma Vibhushan.[43]
  • In November 2009, Pachauri received the 'Order of the Rising Sun - Gold and Silver Star' in recognition of his contribution to the enhancement of Japan's policy towards climate change. He was bestowed with the decoration by Emperor Akihito.[44]
  • In November 2009, Pachauri was rated fifth in the list of "Top 100 Global thinkers" by Foreign Policy magazine, for "ending the debate over whether climate change matters."[45]

Interviews

Pachauri was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Metropolis Congress in Sydney in October 2008. Pachauri addressed climate change's and its impact on urban development to mayors and business leaders.

He also delivered a lecture in January 2007 at Techfest 2008 (held at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) in Mumbai and Kolkata global warming via video conferencing.

He gave a keynote lecture during Convocation '09 at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar.

Pachauri spoke at the 45th annual Nobel Conference on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b The Calcutta Telegraph, Oct 14, 2007
  2. ^ "Gore accepts Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo". Associated Press. msnbc.msn.com. 2007-12-10. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2010-01-31. 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 (2007-12-10). "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 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
  4. ^ R. K. Pachauri biography on I love India website
  5. ^ 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner is ISE's very own Dr. Rajendra Pachauri
  6. ^ a b c "Dr. R.K. Pachauri". 2003-10-11. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 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).
  7. ^ a b "Padam Awards: Civilian Awards announced on January 26, 2001". Ministry of Home Affairs: Government of India. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  8. ^ MBA Channel: HEC appoints Rajendra K. Pachauri Professor Honoris Causa
  9. ^ Bhalla, Nita (2007-10-12). "NEWSMAKER-UN climate panel head formed global consensus". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2010-01-31. Born on Aug 20, 1940 in the scenic town of Nainital in the foothills of the outer Himalayas, he is a hard-core vegetarian, partly due to his religious beliefs as a Hindu and the impact meat production has on the climate.
  10. ^ Pachauri, Rajendra K. (2010). Return To Almora. Rupa & Co. ISBN 9788129115744.
  11. ^ Anjali Joseph (2010-01-23). "Return to Almora: A spiritual potboiler - Book Mark - Sunday TOI". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2010-01-31. Despite its ostensible interest in matters numinous, the novel is actually a potboiler, perhaps of a new subcategory - the spiritual potboiler.
  12. ^ Mendick, Robert (2010-01-30). "Revealed: the racy novel written by the world's most powerful climate scientist". telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 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. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Pachauri, Rajendra K. (2003). Moods and musings. Writers Workshop. ISBN 9788171894680. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Capital Markets Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P." businessweek.com. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 2010-02-01. Archived from the original on 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  15. ^ "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Elects Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri as its Chairman". IPCC. 2002-04-20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  16. ^ Hood, Marlowe (2009-08-25). "Top UN climate scientist backs ambitious CO2 cuts". AFP. Google News. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2010-01-31. "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. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ Whitesides, Loretta Hidalgo (2009-12-28). "NASA's James Hansen Says Atmospheric CO2 is Already Beyond Safe Limit". Wired. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ "Pachauri buries Gore feud after Nobel". Reuters. 2007-10-12. Archived from the original on 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
  19. ^ a b "The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 - press release". nobelprize.org. The Norwegian Nobel Committee. 2007-10-12. Archived from the original on 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
  20. ^ "Gore Accepts Nobel Prize With Call for Bold Action", Mary Jordan, Washington Post, p. A14, 2007-12-11.
  21. ^ a b Transcript of Nobel Prize speech from Democracy Now! website.
  22. ^ Booker, Christopher, and Richard North, "Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri" The Daily Telegraph, December 20, 2009.
  23. ^ Booker, Christopher, "The questions Dr Pachauri still has to answer", The Daily Telegraph, December 26, 2009.
  24. ^ Singh, Ajmer, "Pachauri in a spot as climategate hits TERI", India Today, January 10, 2010.
  25. ^ Mendick, Robert, "Taxpayers' millions paid to Indian institute run by UN climate chief", The Daily Telegraph, January 16, 2010.
  26. ^ Booker, Christopher, and Richard North, The curious case of the expanding environmental group with falling income", The Daily Telegraph, January 17, 2010.
  27. ^ Pachauri, Rajendra, "Climate change has no time for delay or denial" The Guardian, January 4, 2010.
  28. ^ The Hindu, "TERI denies charges against Pachauri", Chennai: Dec 24, 2009.
  29. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Glaciologist-demands-apology-from-Pachauri-for-voodoo-remark/articleshow/5477796.cms
  30. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/glacier.himalayas.ipcc.error/?hpt=Sbin
  31. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7177323/Questions-over-awards-given-by-worlds-top-climate-scientist.html
  32. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6999051.ece
  33. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/08/2813722.htm?section=justin
  34. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6999815.ece Times Online
  35. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/29/ipcc-rajendra-pachauri-glaciers
  36. ^ http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Wetenschap/256661/PvdA-erkent-geblunder-VN-Klimaatchef-moet-weg.htm Samson in Elsevier
  37. ^ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geoffreylean/100023489/pachauri-must-quit-as-head-of-official-science-panel/
  38. ^ http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,673765,00.html Pielke, Tol and Von Storch in Der Spiegel
  39. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7014203.ece
  40. ^ http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/aktuell/2287655_Rajendra-Pachauri-UN-Klimapapst-soll-abdanken.html Grassl in Frankfurter Rundschau
  41. ^ http://www.ptinews.com/news/508208_US-Senator-seeks-IPCC-chairman-Pachauri-s-resignation Barrosso in PTI
  42. ^ http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/866/503094/text/ HJ Schellnhuber in Sueddeutsche
  43. ^ "Padma Awards announced". Retrieved 2010-01-07.
  44. ^ "Pachauri, Krishnamurthy conferred with high Japanese honour", newKerala.com, New Dehli, 2009-11-03, retrieved 2010-01-07
  45. ^ The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers – 5. Rajendra Pachauri

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rajendra Pachauri.
Political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the IPCC
2002–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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