The head of the United Nations panel on climate science resigned on Tuesday after allegations of sexual harassment were filed against him in India, where he lives and works.
Rajendra K. Pachauri, whose 13 years as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had made him one of the world’s most important voices on the risks of global warming, had been scheduled to leave the post in October. But he tendered his resignation early after news that a woman employed at an institute that he heads in India had accused him of unwanted text messages, emails and other contact.
The accuser, 29, has not been publicly named. Lawyers for Dr. Pachauri, 74, have said in court filings that his computer and phone were hacked and that the unwanted messages were sent by someone else to make him look bad. Police in India are investigating, as is an internal-complaints committee at the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi.
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“What’s missing from this letter is any suggestion of remorse,” she wrote. “Where are his words of apology to the thousands of I.P.C.C.-linked scientists whose honor is now eternally tarnished by their association with him?”
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