Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (20 August 1940 – 13 February 2020) was the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2002 to 2015, during the fourth and fifth assessment cycles. Under his leadership the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and delivered the Fifth Assessment Report, the scientific foundation of the Paris Agreement. He held the post from 2002 until his resignation in February 2015 after facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment. In March 2022, he was exonerated of the sexual harassment allegations (The Court of Additional Sessions Judge in Saket Court). He was succeeded by Hoesung Lee. Pachauri assumed his responsibilities as the chief executive of The Energy and Resources Institute in 1981 and led the institute for more than three decades and demitted office as executive vice chairman of TERI in 2016. Pachauri, universally known as Patchy, was an internationally recognized voice on environmental and policy issues, and his leadership of the IPCC contributed to the issue of human-caused climate change becoming recognized as a matter of vital global concern.
Background Pachauri was born in Nainital, India. He was educated at La Martiniere College in Lucknow and at the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Jamalpur, Bihar. He belonged to the Special Class Railway Apprentices, 1958 Batch, an elite scheme which heralded the beginning of mechanical engineering education in India. He began his career with the Indian Railways at the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi. He was admitted to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, United States, where he obtained an MS in Industrial Engineering in 1972, and a PhD with co-majors in Industrial Engineering and Economics in 1974. His doctoral thesis was titled A dynamic model for forecasting of electrical energy demand in a specific region located in North and South Carolina. He was a strict vegetarian, largely because of "the environmental and climate change implications."
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. 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. 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. 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). 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. In July 2001, R K Pachauri was appointed member, Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister of India.
Work with the IPCC On 20 April 2002, Pachauri was elected Chairman of the United Nations established Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Pachauri was 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." 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. His career with IPCC came to an abrupt end after the sexual harassment charges against him surfaced in Indian courts.
2007 Nobel Peace Prize for IPCC
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. 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. Pachauri referenced his belief that the Hindu philosophy of "'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', which means 'the whole universe is one family,'" must dominate global efforts to protect the global commons." 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." 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...
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