The United Nation's Rajendra Pachauri tendered his resignation on Tuesday, Feb. 24, as sexual harassment allegations hounded the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
News of his resignation came after it was reported that Pachauri would be unable to attend the 41st IPCC session in Nairobi, Kenya.
With Pachauri leaving, the Bureau of the IPCC has designated vice-chair Ismail El Gizouli as acting chair in accordance with its procedures. Gizouli will remain in office until the next assessment cycle comes in October when an election for a new Bureau has already been scheduled. The election will be held in October, in time for the 42nd IPCC session.
"The actions taken today will ensure that the IPCC's mission to assess climate change continues without interruption," said Achim Steiner, United Nations Environment Program executive director. Steiner facilitated the Bureau meeting where Pachauri's replacement was decided.
"We look forward to a productive session in Nairobi this week," he added.
The 41st IPCC session will be dealing with various issues, including considering the recommendations provided by the Task Group to be implemented in the panel's future work and deciding on the composition, structure and size of the Bureau and other groups necessary to the IPCC's functions.
Pachauri served in various capacities for the United Nations in the 1990s, even helping with research that supported 1997's Kyoto Protocol. He was elected to head the IPCC in 2002, collecting a Nobel Peace Prize in behalf of the panel in 2007. Pachauri was re-elected in 2008, presiding over the Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports of the IPCC. He was already scheduled to step down toward the end of 2014 before allegations of sexual harassment surfaced.
Pachauri is unable to attend the 41st IPCC session in Nairobi because police in Delhi have launched an investigation against him in response to a sexual harassment complaint. He has denied the allegations but has partly cited his inability to preside over the session as a mark of weak leadership, prompting his resignation.
"The IPCC needs strong leadership and dedication of time and full attention by the Chair in the immediate future, which under the current circumstances I may be unable to provide," he wrote in his resignation letter.
Pachauri, however, added that he would still be available for advice, help and support should the IPCC need him for anything in the panel's future work.
