New Delhi, Dec 23 (Inditop.com) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chief R.K. Pachauri Wednesday termed the financial impropriety allegations levelled against him by Britain’s Sunday Telegraph as “serious and false” and sought an apology from the newspaper.
The Sunday Telegraph had said that he was “with bodies which have been investing billions of dollars in organisations dependent on the IPCC’s policy recommendations”.
In his rejoinder to the newspaper, Pachauri said: “IPCC makes no policy recommendations, and all its reports are in the public domain, widely distributed and disseminated across the world. There is nothing in this report that could have any proprietary benefit.”
The newspaper reported that Pachauri was part of groups, including green firms, which benefited from IPCC’s recommendations, terming this a conflict of interest.
The article said The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), which Pachauri is heading since the 1980s, maintains close links with the Tata group and assists it in developing its carbon trading business worldwide.
“This is far from the truth. The Tatas do enjoy the envious reputation of establishing many institutions of excellence and TERI was one among them. As TERI’s interest went beyond energy and included natural resources, we decided in 2001 to retain the acronym and change the expansion. This signifies our independence from any direct Tata connection,” Pachauri said.
