Pachauri under attack

Rajendra K. Pachauri, the man who told the world how dangerous the changing climate was for survival of humans, is now accused of earning a fortune from the science.

Updated on: Dec 23, 2009, 24:22:42 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Rajendra K. Pachauri, the man who told the world how dangerous the changing climate was for survival of humans, is now accused of earning a fortune from the science.

This is the second time in a month that Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) headed by Pachauri, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008, is under attack.

Earlier, leaked emails had accused IPCC scientists in University of East Anglia of the US of fudging scientific data to exaggerate impact of climate change.

In a rejoinder sent to the UK newspaper Sunday Telegraph on Tuesday seeking apology, Pachauri termed the allegations "a pack of lies" spread by climate sceptics, who were also behind the leaked emails (dubbed climategate scandal). "The Telegraph needs to appreciate that there are millions in India who don't get enough food not have electricity and therefore, India cannot take emission cuts," he said.

The newspaper reported that Pachauri was part of groups including green firms that benefited from IPCC's recommendations, a clear case of conflict of interest.

The article said The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), which Pachauri is heading since 1980s, stands to profit from carbon cut options discussed at Copenhagen and the Tata Group was a direct beneficiary.

The 'T' in TERI earlier meant Tata in 1974 because it was set up with the seed money from the company. However, it was replaced by 'The' in the late 80s, when the institute went independent.

The report says the one project co-financed by UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the German insurance firm Munich Re, is studying how India's insurance industry, including Tata, can benefit from exploiting the supposed risks of exposure to climate change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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