Euros for Rajendra
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Having led the institute from 1982, in the 20 years before he (Pachauri)assumed the IPCC chair, only four EU projects had been awarded. Since then, the institute in seven years has shared in 17 projects worth over €56 million. For many of them, TERI had no obvious expertise or physical presence.
I don’t entirely understand why any dendro(chronologist) would feel so threatened by discussing things like the connection of linear mixed effects models to the construction of tree ring chronologies that they would refuse to participate in such a session, but hey – it’s climate science. They’d rather avoid criticism than confront it.
Indian authorities organizing the 12-day meet have just announced a series of measures to offset the carbon footprint that the event will generate.
Delhi state Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, while unveiling an 'ecological code' for the Games, said numerous initiatives like plantation of saplings, waste management and measures to ensure energy efficiency are being taken by her government to mitigate the carbon footprint of the event.
The 'Delhi Ecological Code' targets to make the event the first carbon consumption neutral games, by taking various environment friendly measures like reducing energy, to monitor and minimize the polluting impact of the sporting event by ensuring a reduction in carbon emissions and focusing on clean fuel, waste management and water conservation.
According to the Chairman of the Organizing Committee Suresh Kalmadi the Delhi games will be the "first carbon consumption neutral games" in the history of sporting events.
Nearly 150,000 tons of carbon foot-print is expected to be generated during the October 3-14 meet which will be attended by athletes from the erstwhile British ruled nations.
Saddam was hanged on fake evidence
Saddam trial: villagers tell of the day the planes came
Kurdish villagers gave a series of emotional testimonies today in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial as they told of how the Iraqi dictator’s forces bombarded civilian villages with poisonous gas.
On the second day of the trial, after a chaotic opening in which Saddam refused to state his name or enter a plea, witnesses began to detail the savagery of the Anfal campaign which ran from 1987-88.
The prosecution alleges that up to 182,000 civilians were killed in air strikes, poison gas attacks and armed sweeps by Iraqi forces through designated "prohibited zones" in Kurdish regions.
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"On April 16, 1987 in the evening as the cattle were returning home and the sun was setting in the sky, about eight to 12 jets covered the sky," he began.
"The jets started firing on the villages of Belisand and Sheikwasan. The explosions were not very loud.
"There was greenish smoke from the bombs. It was if there was a rotten apple or garlic smell minutes later. People were vomiting... we were blind and screaming. There was no one to rescue us. Just God," he said.
Prosecutors said that a series of eight campaigns between February and August 1988 were aimed at driving Kurds from their homes into "collective villages" where Iraqi authorities could monitor them. Those who did not die in the military attacks were arrested, displaced, tortured or killed, the court was told.
The Kurdish victims caught unaware by cyanide
Q: Has all that has happened this winter dented the credibility of IPCC?Why indeed? …
R.K.P(achauri).: I don’t think the credibility of the IPCC can be dented. If the IPCC wasn’t there, why would anyone be worried about climate change?
Now here’s a conundrum: why is it certain childrens’ characters have indeed been softened up and ‘P.C’d’ whilst others have been created to look like mass murderers and prostitutes? There’s no happy medium. Take a look in a modern toyshop and see the grotesque contortionist faces of boys’ space/futuristic toys (or any modern aggressive cartoon or computer game with rotten English dialogue to accompany it) and the fashionable Pratz (Bratz) doll range.
Horrid. And sordid.
What was wrong with Deputy Dawg, Top Cat, Huckleberry Hound, the Hair Bear Bunch? Why have carttons(sic) become so sinister looking these days?
'Vagina Monologues' Creator Tells Palin to Look at 'Earthquakes and Tsunamis' for Global Warming ProofWhatever Eve Ensler is carrying inside her it's not a brain.
A former employee who spent two years at Teri said Dr Pachauri was continually concerned about funding.
“At every single meeting I attended in two years, the only topic was funding,” she said.
The ex-employee gave a fascinating insight into the workings of the institute. When Dr Pachauri, who is described on his personal website as “an international statesman promoting climate change awareness”, marked his birthday a few years ago, the staff were shown a homemade video of their boss’s life story.
“I was appalled when they showed a 10-minute film on Pachauri,” said the
ex-employee. “It showed Pachauri as an infant, Pachauri as a toddler, Pachauri at school, Pachauri playing cricket, Pachauri getting married. It was all about ‘Pachauri the Great’ and his achievements.”
Guess who paid for Pachauri’s glittering book launch ceremonies:
British Petroleum!
You might wonder how a book about a climate researcher’s spiritual journey gets a launch party in New Delhi from big oil. Hidden inside this Telegraph piece are the details.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/enviro ... ungle.html
“It has also emerged that Teri’s biggest single sponsor, BP India, … paid for dinner and drinks at an event publicising Dr Pachauri’s debut novel.”
It adds:
A BP spokesman said it was entirely legitimate to fund the dinner, the company having enjoyed a “long association with Dr Pachauri”.
What kind of ‘associations you might wonder? They are helpful…
“He confirmed that the firm gave Teri $9.5million (£6.1million) between 2006 and 2009 for planting 8,000 hectares of jatropha, a type of bush, as part of a bio-diesel research project.”
Who else were at this glittering galaxy, you might wonder next. Take a look at this page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 541&ref=mf
Note amongst the peculiarly long list of luminaries – given some of the content of the book – the following names:
R.S. Sharma (Chairman ONGC) i.e of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation India
Sashi Mukundan (Country Head – India, BP Group of Companies) – the guy who footed the bill.
Who paid for the book launch in Mumbai?
HSBC.
Again you might wonder why a big bank is supporting Pachauri lit? Going through the following may help. HSBC is heavily invested in climate change.
http://www.hsbcnet.com/solutions/news/c ... bmark.html
“‘Climate change is set to be one of the defining investment opportunities in the years ahead”
Nick Robins, Head of HSBC’s Climate Change Centre of Excellence
HSBC has sunk a healthy amount of funds through its Earthwatch ‘partnership’ ventures in India. Look at this document:
http://www.earthwatch.org/europe/downlo ... _brief.pdf
Inside you’ll find scientific initiatives such as:
“Dendrometer bands. To monitor the effects of climatic variability on tree growth, dendrometer bands are attached to a subset of trees > 10 cm dbh, in each permanent sample plot…” – for the Western Ghat forests and others.
If you are wondering how a smut novel leads to a bank that nudges dendroclimatology along, you are on the right track. If you find this cited in the next Assessment Report, dont be surprised. Pachauri might be an AGW advocate and HSBC might be in the AGW business, but how does funding a smut novel launch fit even this tortured scheme? Shouldn’t it show up bad on HSBC internal audits?
Maybe we shouldn’t bother so much…
Here’s Pachauri doing HSBC a favor, at a previous date, with his trademark fear-mongering:
“Dr Pachauri cautioned that the world is moving towards a ‘climate vulnerable future’ and urged industry and business to ensure a ‘low carbon future’ without which all stakeholders will be in trouble.”
http://bcsd.teri.res.in/index.php?optio ... Itemid=211
Who were present at the Bombay (excuse me while I eschew the term ‘Mumbai’) book launch?
Naina Lal Kidwai – CEO HSBC India, the main sponsor.
Indu Shahani – Educationist, Sheriff of Bombay and member of the audit and corporate governance committee of HSBC
Rahul Bose – Actor
I posted previously wondering how Rahul Bose got there. Not unlike Hollywood actors, there are many in mainstream and alternative Indian cinema who feel strongly about the environment. Rahul Bose is one, too. Apparently Pachauri ran into him at Copenhagen and got him to agree to turn up at the book launch.
http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/slide ... ch_1332818
If you think you’ve had enough of Pachauri, here’s the green governor of California remonstrating to Indians to clone Pachauri!
http://blog.taragana.com/e/2010/02/05/c ... dia-88037/
Those of you who thought this was a harmless event about a book which is good for a few laughs, please think again.
If IPCC chief R K Pachauri remained under attack for the better part of last month, his reputation was more than resurrected in the last two days, with government heads and leaders from across the world voicing their support for the man and his organisation.
Round, like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), of which Dr Rajendra Pachauri is the director-general, has given corporate awards to companies such as Pepsi and Honda, as well as Indian businesses.
Those same companies have given financial backing to Teri through grants or paid-for consultancy work.
According to Teri’s own website, Dr Pachauri and his wife are on the jury panel for the 2010 awards. Dr Pachauri has been on the jury panel for the awards in previous years.
The disclosure will lead to further questions over possible conflict of interest against Dr Pachauri, whose position as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is already under threat over errors in its reports.
Dr Pachauri has repeatedly denied any conflict of interest between his work for the IPCC and his work for Teri.
Similar in effect to the erroneous "2035" claim – the year the IPCC claimed that Himalayan glaciers were going to melt – in this instance we find that the IPCC has wrongly claimed that in some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent by 2020.
At best, this is a wild exaggeration, unsupported by any scientific research, referenced only to a report produced by a Canadian advocacy group, written by an obscure Moroccan academic who specialises in carbon trading, citing references which do not support his claims.
Unlike the glacier claim, which was confined to a section of the technical Working Group II report, this "50 percent by 2020" claim forms part of the key Synthesis Report, the production of which was the personal responsibility of the chair of the IPCC, Dr R K Pachauri. It has been repeated by him in many public fora. He, therefore, bears a personal responsibility for the error.
In this lengthy post, we examine the nature and background of this latest debacle, which is now under investigation by IPCC scientists and officials.
Varanasi holds fire ritual to prevent global warming
A large number of devotees have participated in a Maha Yajna, a major sacred fire ritual, here in the holy city of Uttar Pradesh, organized to seek divine intervention to prevent global warming.
In the specially prepared 101 fire pits, 62 Himalayan herbs have been used, as part of the yajna ceremony. The religious ritual has been performed amidst chanting of Vedic Shlokas (verses) by priests while a large number of devotees joining them in the recitation of Shlokas.
"...Yajna is a part of worship of Lord Vishnu and this ritual will help overcome all types of pollutants prevalent in the atmosphere," said DP Sharma, the organiser.
It is believed that the smoke emitted from the burning herbs destroys carbon dioxide.
"These types of Yajnas are being carried out at the national level. I think we can repair the ozone layer' hole in the atmosphere through such yajna. We can purify the polluted atmosphere," said Amita Dubey, a devotee
Australian Classification Board (ACB) is now banning depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films. They banned mainstream pornography from showing women with A-cup breasts, apparently on the grounds that they encourage paedophilia, and in spite of the fact this is a normal breast size for many adult women. Presumably small breasted women taking photographs of themselves will now be guilty of creating simulated child pornography, to say nothing of the message this sends to women with modestly sized chests or those who favour them. Australia has also banned pornographic depictions of female ejaculation, a normal orgasmic sexual response in many women, with censors branding it as 'abhorrent.'
It looks like February 11th will be the most violent confrontation to date. The regime is taking unusual measures to put down the promised demonstrations. In many ways it resembles the “Chinese solution.” First, an unprecedented mobilization: 120 trains and something like a thousand buses have been deployed from as far away as 250 kilometers from the capital. They will be used by the Revolutionary Guards and Basij to bring tens of thousands of paid “volunteers” to Tehran. These will consist of entire families (dependent on the regime) to counter the Green Wave. Each family gets $80 for the day, plus free food. The regime is aiming at 300,000 thugs in the streets. The Greens don’t think the numbers will be that high, and in any event they expect ten times that number of protesters, upwards of three million increasingly angry people, demanding freedom and justice.
Pachauri has long since abandoned the notion of the IPCC as a body that provides information to decision makers, and has for some time been advocating specific actions.
But in the article(in The Hindu), Pachauri calls for grassroots action, suggests he's realized governments are no longer buying what he's trying to sell.
One of the favourable outcomes of the Copenhagen conference last December was the acceptance of a 2°C limit on temperature increase that the countries who are part of the Copenhagen Accord laid down as a target. However, this Accord, which was reached in the final hours of the extended meeting, is not yet universally accepted, and in fact is likely to receive some resistance from a number of countries.So let me get this straight. National governments are not moving fast enough as far as Pachauri is concerned, so he wants "urgent grassroots action". Presumably "urgent grassroots action" only applies to democracies, since it's a one-way ticket to a gulag in many countries. The demand flies in the face of the IPCC charter, which clearly sets out its mandate as a clearing house for scientific information, rather than an activist body promoting specific policies.
The challenge and opportunity facing human society is, therefore, to launch urgent grassroots action by civil society, business and local governments towards a pattern of sustainable development. National governments and multilateral initiatives would follow inevitably.
The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.How is calling for "urgent grassroots action" even remotely "policy neutral"?
Because of its scientific and intergovernmental nature, the IPCC embodies a unique opportunity to provide rigorous and balanced scientific information to decision makers. By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content. The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.
And since when does a representative of the United Nations bypass a national government directly to the citizens of a country, calling on them to...what...defy the law?
I mean, "grassroots action" and "direct action" and phrases like that are often code words for civil disobedience. Or worse.
It could certainly be taken to mean that by people already motivated to do that sort of thing. Pachauri must realize this.
I dare say he's betting on it.
“The goof ups that are being reported are all from Working Group II. Clearly, evangelism has overtaken science. I am told that there are many things in the summary for policymakers that are not there in the Working Group reports. There is a clear need to distinguish science from advocacy, and the IPCC should stick with science,”
It is available for download from Jo Nova's site. Jo is, as you may be aware, herself justly famous for her Skeptics Handbook.This is One Spectacular Poster of ClimateGate Covering 3 Decades
You have to see this up close to believe it. Look up close and admire the detail while you despair at how long science has been going off the rails. To better appreciate the past and what was exposed by the CRU emails, the Timeline chart consolidates and chronologically organizes the information uncovered and published about the CRU emails by many researchers along with some related contextual events. That the chart exists at all is yet another example of how skilled experts are flocking in to the skeptics’ position and dedicating hours of time pro bono because they are passionately motivated to fight against those who try to deceive us.
Do you believe you are under attack because you are from the third world? I don't know, but you can draw your own conclusions. But, I must say that throughout the period I have functioned as chairman of the IPCC I have had the support of every country. If that wasn't the case, I would not have been re-elected unanimously. The outsiders who really don't want any action on climate change may find me inconvenient. They probably think that I am an inconvenient truth, like the Al-Gore movie.
Do you wear 1,000-dollar Armani suits?
I am not a monk I don't live in a monastery. I don't think I will ever do that. I have an inherited house, it is an ancestral property in Golf Links. If you think I should not be living in Golf Links, please get me a nice house and maybe I would consider moving from there. I find it very convenient [the house is half km from TERI]. It is not something I have invested in. As far as my suits are concerned, I get them stitched by Chadda and Company in Khanna Market [A middle-class market behind the TERI building]. He charges me the princely sum of Rs 2,200, and this is after I have bargained with him. Normally, he would have charged Rs 2,500. I am a regular customer. I will recommend you very strongly to him, I will take you along if you want. If my suits look like a thousand dollars, then he is doing a pretty good job, I would say. He is a good tailor.
I don't eat meat, I stopped eating meat years ago, I never go to a shopping mall, I don't think I have ever been to a shopping mall in this country because I am ethically against these energy guzzling establishments. When I step out of my office, I always switch off my lights. At home I never use a heater during the worst period in the winter, I just don't like it. I try to do my best in my own lifestyle, I know it is not good enough, but this is something that is a part of my daily existence. For anyone to say I have a luxurious lifestyle, I think it is a lie of the worst kind.
Can you provide us revenue for 10 years to prove there is no link between IPCC and TERI?
I don't see a link. As, I said if I would had been administrator of UNDP or in World Bank or in corporate sector, where I could dole out favours to people, then you can say that people are favouring TERI. I am proud of the credibility I have. If people feel I can run the organization, and this organisation does deliver, not through my efforts but everybody's efforts, we are proud about it. I have proved myself in several aspects in the world. Not in eyes of Sunday Telegraph. Fortunately, there are a few people, thank God, like the Sunday Telegraph. But yes, if you want, we can provide the accounts, the payments made over these 10 years.
On the various gates that have recently opened(climategate,glaciergate etc)-
While covering the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, I took a morning away from the main venue to attend a forum of "climate skeptics".
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I left the forum before the morning session ended. I felt that most of the speakers were too emotional and politically charged to be considered objective.
But I was impressed by the presentation of Dr Fred Singer, an atmospheric physicist and founding director of the US Weather Satellite Service, who challenged the IPCC findings with his research data.
In the next few days, I talked with several scientists, including Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chair, and asked them about Singer's data. All of these scientists brushed aside Singer's arguments, saying that the IPCC's primary finding is indisputable: "Warming in the climate system is unequivocal".
I believed the IPCC reports, which summarize the research of some 4,000 scientists, but I had some serious reservations. For one thing, the IPCC reports contained very little data from Chinese researchers. I was told the IPCC refused to consider Chinese data because the Chinese research was not peer-reviewed.
China is not a small country. Its landmass spans several climate zones and includes the roof of the world. I have to wonder how data from China would affect the IPCC's findings.
Several Chinese scientists who have gone over the IPCC report believe that the IPCC may have overstated the link between global temperature and CO2 in the atmosphere.
In a paper published in the December issue of the Chinese language Earth Science magazine, Ding Zhongli, an established environmental scientist, stated that the current temperatures on earth look normal if global climate changes over the past 10,000 years are considered.
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I am particularly troubled by the fact that top IPCC officials do not seem to take these revelations seriously. Interviewed by the BBC, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chairman of the IPCC, dismissed the matter as a "human mistake".
Ancient Chinese considered three a breaking point. They could forgive two errors, but not a third. Now that the IPCC has admitted three "human" errors, isn't it time scientists gave its work a serious review?
Naqvi -Are you trying to say that the science editor(Leake) of the Times is part of a big diabolical conspiracy against you?WTF!!Does Pachauri have a colonial hangover?
Pachauri - Well, they are against anything to do with action against climate change.They are a bunch of skeptics.They are supported by lobbies...
Naqvi - Times of London is part of the skeptic...
Pachauri - Well of course,well of course. I mean you have people of this shade of opinion all over the world.They exist in London. London is still not ruling the empire.
Pachauri - And I'm certainly not going to listen to the likes of these people.Their job, possibly, at the bidding of their masters who probably have a lot of money and vested interests..
Pachauri - I think the likes of Lord Monckton don't count at all.People laugh at him wherever he goes. I mean he can't collect ten people to address an audience anywhere except those who are known adherents..
Pachauri - Yes, but what I'd like to say is that who's going to see that climate change and action against the threat of climate change is going to reduce their profits is obviously going to be against the science of climate change.I mean what happened in the case of tobacco.I mean they continued to question the science, they even tried to demolish those who were trying to spread the sense that came from the science only because they didn't want to lose their markets, they didn't want to lose their profits..the same thing is happening over here.
Pachauri- Well I don't have to persuade him.Our Prime Minister is an extremely intelligent, enlightened and learned person.He not only has a mind, he has a heart and he has a soul.He's a person of enormous talent, enormous wisdom.
Naqvi -Do you see a touch of racism somewhere there?
Pachauri- I wouldn't say that. I think it's for people to judge but certainly perhaps they do feel uncomfortable because I advocate and I put forward the cause of the worst affected communities in the world and these are the poorest regions in the world.So they feel taxpayer's dollars are going to be spent in Bangladesh and the Maldives and other small island states and in Africa because of the science that clearly indicates that these would be the worst victims.So it may not be racism but it clearly is something that they have against someone coming from a developing country
Pachauri- That poor man has been through problems of his own ..at the hands of the same groups of people
Pachauri- Wrong, wrong. We haven't got a single penny from the Carnegie corporation. We have been in a discussion with them to fund our glacier research which incidentally I started in this institute well over a year ago with our own funds
Naqvi - You have trimmed your beard, haven't you? That makes you look less like Rasputin
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Pachauri -Well,one keeps changing styles.I mean I'm told that I wear 1000$ suits which I don't. My tailor charges me 2200 rupees to tailor first-rate clothing and if he hears that these are...
Naqvi- but that jacket is from Seville Row
Pachauri- It's borrowed, he,he,he I don't even own it,he,he,he
Naqvi (reading from notes)- Right! Well,here you are- you quoted IPCC report to win grant from....of 310,000 from Carnegie foundation and a large portion of 2.5 million grant from EU specifically to study humanitarian and water security impacts due to glacial losses by 2035
Pachauri- well let me..
Naqvi -these are the allegations
Pachauri- let me first clarify ..
Naqvi--And I've(not clear)
Pachauri- Ok let me first clarify ..the glaciers are melting.Now whether they melt by 2035 or 2050 is another matter.Look at the report of the ministry of environment and forests. They themselves have said that the glaciers in the Himalayas will melt in 50 years.OK,that's not the issue. The issue is that they are melting, they have serious implications for the entire subcontinent.Now we have along with 7 other partner institutions in Europe submitted a proposal which has been agreed to by the European commission. Our share of that is a little over 400,000 Euros. So it is lies..
Naqvi- But that was before the controversy
Pachauri-Ya, ya, of course, before that.
Naqvi- so now, now you mean to say that the money will not come to you?
Pachauri- no, no , it will come to us.Who's going to stop that money coming to us?Because the funding organizations are not fools.They're not going to listen to all these lies.But what I'm trying to say is there is nothing to do with the total sum of funding of over 2 million Euros which has been distributed among 8 institutions. We have 7 partners and our share is 400,000 Euros or thereabout.
Naqvi -You've got it?You've got that money?
Pachauri- No.no.We haven't got it.We'll get it gradually as the activity proceeds.But that...that project is meant to study the downstream impacts, the socio-economic impacts of the melting of the glaciers and a whole range of other factors that are going to affect water in this part of the world.As far as the Carnegie corporation is concerned we haven't got a single penny.
Naqvi-Pachy, would you accept the proposition that you've lost credibility?
Pachauri- No!I don't. I mean I might have lost credibility and favor as far as the skeptics are concerned which is only a clear testimony to the fact that I'm effective.
Naqvi- Who are these skeptics?
Pachauri-Well, as I said, those who see a threat to the big profits..
Naqvi-Name them
Pachauri-Well, you can think of some fossil fuel companies , you can think of those who are in the business of exporting fossil fuels...er,and of course those who earn a living from let's say the automobile industry, the highway lobby and so on. There are coal companies that are involved.And I'm not going to name individuals because I don't want to get down to that level.But this is an organized block of vested interests who as I said earlier, like in the case of smoking and the link with lung cancer fought tooth and nail and tried to damage reputations.They're trying to do that here.
Naqvi- No,if you elaborated in your words you obviously,Pachy, you instead from what I can see in this conversation that instead of being humbled by the controversy you have decided to fight your way out of it
Pachauri- Well, of course.The truth is on my side.
Pachauri- But let me tell you something.Look at all the studies that have been carried on the Chinese side of the Himalayas.They all point to very rapid melting .So what's so miraculous about this part of the Himalayas..
Naqvi- In fact I have a..I have a remarkable statement by one of the Chinese scientist who says we must.. In fact he himself is very skeptical.He says don't give up the possibility that we may be exaggerating human intervention as the only cause for climate change
Pachauri-He's not a scientist.He's a political official.Please don't label him as a scientist.He's the vice-chairman of the economic and development reforms commission of China.
Pachauri- Worldwide people are baffled by that(Chinese) statement.
Naqvi-So you my dear friend Pachy, my old school friend I'm well....you have obviously decided to pull no punches and I hope are you sleeping easy?
Pachauri-I'm sleeping easy
Naqvi-Travel less and go into the Himalayas and reflect upon the mistakes you've made
Pachauri- I've not made any mistake. I accept responsibility for the one mistake on the Himalayan Glaciers, otherwise I can tell you the IPCC would not have reached this level of effectiveness and credibility were it not for the fact that we have done a very good job and that's why people are feeling threatened and that's why they are trying to hit me
Naqvi-Ha,ha Thank you,thank you very much.
Pachauri-Thanks
go into the Himalayas and reflect upon the mistakes you've made
But as controversy continued to simmer last week over the bogus ‘Glaciergate’ claims in a report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – which he heads – Dr Pachauri showed no apparent inclination to cut global warming in his own back yard.
On Friday, for the one-mile journey from home to his Delhi office, Dr Pachauri could have walked, or cycled, or used the eco-friendly electric car provided for him, known in the UK as G-Wiz.
But instead, he had his personal chauffeur collect him from his £4.5million home – in a 1.8-litre Toyota Corolla.
Hours later, the chauffeur picked up Dr Pachauri from the office of the environmental charity where he is director-general – The Energy and Resources Institute – blatantly ignoring the institute’s own literature, which gives visitors tips on how to reduce pollution by using buses.
---------------------------------
The chauffeur said Dr Pachauri’s family owned or ran a total of five cars. Dr Pachauri used three: the company Toyota, the REVA and an older ‘Ambassador-style car’ – a reference to the smoke-belching, Indian-made Hindustan Ambassador car, based on the vintage British Morris Oxford, that is a common sight at taxi ranks in Delhi.
The Golf Links area in Central Delhi where Dr Pachauri lives is named after the nearby Delhi Golf Course and is one of the most expensive residential areas in India. Every home in this gated community has its own security guard and it enjoys round-the-clock police patrols to protect its wealthy residents.
Dr Pachauri’s neighbours include a former prime minister’s son and senior Indian business leaders. Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s richest man with an estimated £10.8billion fortune, owns a home in the same area.
Currently, homes of a similar size to Dr Pachauri’s are being advertised at prices of around £6million.
Dr Pachauri said people should take ‘practical lifestyle steps’ including ‘use of energy-efficient transport, including public transport – and in general become conscious of our carbon footprints as individuals’.A shame on the Indian media -this is something they should have done long time back and could have done in just a few hours.
Asked why Dr Pachauri used a chauffeur-driven car, Mr Chhibber said: ‘He does use the REVA electric car whenever he can and he encourages the staff to use the other electric cars when they drive around town. He also encourages all his staff to pool cars when we can.
‘But sometimes the REVA is not practical. It may be he has to pick up other people. There is not so much room inside.’
When Mr Chhibber (Pachauri's company’s manager for corporate communications)was asked why Dr Pachauri left the REVA in the car park on Friday, he replied: ‘I cannot comment on that.’
Under normal circumstances, the affairs of a wealthy man are his own business, but these are not "normal circumstances." This is the man who told us that the Western lifestyle is unsustainable and who constantly evangelizes that we must reduce our personal consumption, while building himself a multi-million portfolio on the back of the climate change industry
