Indian environmentalist Rajendra K. Pachauri is interviewed by Professor Susan Holcombe of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Programs at The Heller School, Brandeis University. Dr. Pachauri later delivered the Heller School Commencement Address to graduating students and their families.
Pachauri serves as director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an organization in New Delhi dedicated to research and the promotion of environmental sustainability. He holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering and PhDs in industrial engineering and economics from North Carolina State University, where he also served as a member of the faculty. In 1981–82, he was a visiting professor of resource economics at West Virginia University and a senior visiting fellow at the Resource Systems Institute, East-West Center, in Honolulu. The author of some 23 books, he has also written more than 100 articles for academic journals.
Since he joined TERI in 1982, it has become one of the best-known research institutes in the world. Since 2002, Pachauri has chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, where he spearheaded the production of its fourth and most challenging assessment report. He has also served the government of India as a member of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Advisory Board on Energy, and Council on Climate Change, a scientific intergovernmental body that provides policymakers an objective analysis of climate change.
The recipient of many global honors, he was awarded India’s Padma Bhushan for his service to the environment and received the country’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. In 2006, the Government of France awarded him the Legion of Honor medal, and in 2007 he was co-recipient with Al Gore of the Nobel Peace Prize.
