Former TERI chief R K Pachauri passes away at 79

Rajendra K Pachauri, India's high-flying environmentalist who went on to head the UN Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change after leading The Energy and Resources Institute for three decades is no more. He was 79.

A climate change champion, the septuagenarian was on ventilation at a private hospital in Delhi since last week battling for life following surgery.

"It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing away of RK Pachauri, the founder-director of TERI. The entire TERI family stands with the Pachauri family in this hour of grief," tweeted TERI.

"TERI is what it is because of Pachauri’s untiring perseverance. He played a pivotal role in making us a leading organisation in the sustainability space,” said Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI, who succeeded Pachauri in 2015.

From the days of accepting the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC in 2007 to facing multiple criminal charges from young women on sexual misconduct eight years later, the bearded economist-turned-environmentalist witnessed the highs and lows of the life in the last two decades.

Born at Nainital, Pachauri was an engineer by training and began his career with the Indian Railways. Subsequently, he earned degrees on industrial engineering and economics from the North Carolina State University, USA and joined the Administrative Staff College of India in the late 1970s before switching to the TERI (then known as Tata Energy Research Institute) in 1982 as its director.

Over the next three decades, he transformed TERI into an influential institution that took up projects from the government as well as the industry and often courted criticism for its pro-industry views on green issues. He steered the institute's growth leading to the establishment of a dozen TERI branches with 1250 employees and a university.

With support from the Union Environment and Forest Ministry in 2002, he replaced Robert Watson, a US atmospheric scientist as the Chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He was at the helm of affairs for the global climate body for two terms overseeing the release of two seminal reports and accepting the Nobel Prize which the UN body shared with former US Vice President Al Gore in 2007.

He stepped down from the IPCC in February 2015 after serious charges of sexual misconduct surfaced against him and he was dragged to the court by two young women who had worked at the TERI under him. The matter is pending at the Delhi High Court.

An internal committee of the TERI also found him guilty following which he had to leave the organisation, which became almost synonymous with him. He also quit many other committees and agencies with which he had long term association.

A former member of the Prime Minister's Committee on Climate Change, Pachauri advised the Centre on a diverse range of issues from the India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline to the inter-linking of rivers. But most of the time, he faced criticism for an industry-friendly view.

"His contribution to global sustainable development is unparalleled. His leadership of the IPCC laid the ground for climate change conversations today," noted Nitin Desai, Chairman, TERI.

Pachauri is survived by his wife Saroj, two daughters and a son.