As the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri was supposed to be an expert on the world’s changing weather patterns — not the sexual satisfaction of his own staff.
Instead of keeping his mind on the future of the planet, the 74-year-old allegedly had his eye on something else: a 29-year-old female researcher working in his office.
“Here I am sitting and chairing an IPCC meeting and surreptitiously sending you messages,” said one email he allegedly sent in October 2013 during a meeting in Batumi, Georgia. “I hope that tells you of my feelings for you.”
Last night, Dr Pachauri’s turbulent 13-year stint at the helm of the organisation came to an end after he tendered his resignation amid claims of sexual harassment.
In a letter to Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary-general, Dr Pachauri said that the allegations against him made it difficult for him to offer the “strong leadership and dedication of time and full attention by the chair” required by the panel during a crucial year for climate talks. “I have, therefore, taken the decision to step down from my position as chair of the IPCC some months before completion of my term,” he wrote.
It is not the first time that Dr Pachauri has been brought down by something steamier than a tropical heatwave. In 2010, he was criticised for his attempt at an erotic novel.
Much like the plot of The Guru, the British film in which the lead character learns the art of sexual spiritualism from a porn star, the adventures of Sanjay Nath in Return to Almora suggested the influence of something slightly seedier than a mere Hindu love god.
Sanjay who, like Dr Pachauri, studied engineering, frequently noticed women’s breasts and at one stage masturbated into a handkerchief obtained from a fellow train passenger.
Dr Pachauri, who was appointed to the role in 2002, skipped a key meeting of the IPCC in Nairobi this week after the woman accused him of sending her inappropriate messages and emails while working together at his Delhi think-tank, the Energy and Resources Institute. Delhi police are investigating the allegations, which Dr Pachauri denies.
In another email, sent a month earlier, he allegedly wrote: “I never want to make you uncomfortable even if it means curbing my own instincts.”
In her complaint to Delhi police, the unidentified woman said: “On many occasions Dr Pachauri forcibly grabbed my body, hugged me, held my hands, kissed me and touched my body in an inappropriate manner.”
The allegations against the doctor, who has claimed his email and mobile phone were hacked, come before a pivotal few months for talks on tackling climate change. World leaders are hoping to sign a new deal to tackle the problem at a meeting in Paris in December.
“The actions taken today will ensure that the IPCC’s mission to assess climate change continues without interruption,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, which oversees the IPCC.
Dr Pachauri had fought off earlier calls for his resignation in 2007, when an IPCC report overstated the speed at which Himalayan glaciers were melting. In the past he has been criticised for lacking science qualifications, having trained as a mechanical engineer working at the Indian Railways Institute.
He will be replaced by Ismail El Gizouli, Dr Pachauri’s vice-chairman, a Sudanese climate scientist who spent much of his career at the University of Aston in Birmingham.
Dr Pachauri has repeatedly claimed that he is the victim of a smear campaign to discredit the IPCC’s climate work, which forms the basis for international agreements on carbon emissions.
