Biographical Note

Mr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri was elected Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2002. The IPCC, established and co-sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is the leading body for the scientific assessment of climate change.

Mr. Pachauri has been involved in the work of the IPCC since its Second Assessment Report in 1995, as a Lead Author. He was then Vice-President of the IPCC during the Third Assessment Report.

Mr. Pachauri has been the head of TERI, The Energy and Resources Institute, since its establishment 25 years ago. TERI is an international institute of excellence headquartered in New Delhi. Its work is focused on scientific and technological research and strategic thinking in the fields of energy, environment, forestry, biotechnology, conservation of natural resources and sustainable development.

To acknowledge his immense contributions to the field of environment, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in January 2001, one of India’s highest civilian awards. Among other awards he received, he was honored “Officer De La Legion D’Honneur” by the Government of France in 2006.

Mr. Pachauri was born in Nainatal, India, on 20 August 1940. He completed his studies in the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA, where he obtained as MS in industrial engineering in 1972, a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and a Ph.D. in economics. He taught at various universities in India and the USA, including at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, in 2000. He was Research Fellow at The World Bank, Washington, DC in 1990.

He was adviser to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the fields of energy and sustainable management of natural resources from 1994 till 1999.

Mr. Pachauri’s wide-ranging expertise has resulted in his membership of various international and national committees and boards of academic, research, civil, professional and corporate institutions. At the international level, he has been President of the Asian Energy Institute since 1992. Among other positions, he has just joined the board of the Global Humanitarian Forum, recently founded by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He’s member of the International Advisory Board of the Toyota Motor Corporation. He was previously member of the Board of the International Solar Energy Society.

On the national level, he’s at present member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Climate Change, while from 1999 to 2004 he has bee a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. He holds non-functional positions on the Board of Directors of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, India’s principal energy company and on the board of the National Thermal Power Corporation, India’s largest power producer. He’s member of the Board of Directors on the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Heritage Foundation.

Mr. Pachauri has authored 23 books (among which a book on English poetry) and many papers and articles.

Mr. Pachauri is an active cricketer.

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