UN scientist denies sexual harassment claims

India’s Rajendra Pachauri has stepped down as chair of the UN panel of climate scientists, ending 13 turbulent years in charge after allegations of sexual harassment, which he has denied.

Pachauri, aged 74 and chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002, pulled out of an IPCC meeting in Kenya this week after Indian police started an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint against him.

Mr Pachauri is being investigated in India after a 29-year-old woman accused him of sexually harassing her while they worked together at the New Delhi lobbying and research organisation he heads, The Energy Resources Institute.

He said in his resignation letter that he “would be available for help, support and advice to the entire IPCC in its future work in whatever manner I may be called on to provide.”

He has denied the allegations, according to an Indian court order. Pachauri, whose second term as IPCC chair had been due to end in October 2015, has also suffered cardiac problems.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Pachauri said that his inability to travel to Kenya showed he may be unable to ensure the “strong leadership and dedication of time and full attention by the chair” needed by the panel.

“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.

He collected the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC in 2007, when the panel shared the award with former US vice president Al Gore.

Findings by the IPCC about global warming are the main guide for action by almost 200 governments which have agreed to work out a deal in December 2015 to combat climate change.