Rajendra Pachauri, head of UN climate change panel, steps down amid sexual harassment allegations

The leader of the UN's expert panel on climate change stepped down yesterday amid an investigation into a colleague's allegations of sexual harassment.

Rajendra Pachauri, 75, an Indian citizen, had chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002 and accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on its behalf.

The panel on climate change "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," Pachauri wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

He did not elaborate, but pointed to his withdrawal from a meeting in Nairobi this week to attend to what the IPCC called "issues demanding his attention in India". Pachauri is being investigated in India after a 29-year-old woman accused him of sexually harassing her while they had worked together at the New Delhi lobbying and research organisation he heads, The Energy Resources Institute.

A police report said the woman gave police dozens of text messages and emails that she alleged had been sent by Pachauri. A Delhi court on Monday ordered Pachauri to cooperate in the investigation.

Pachauri denies the allegations and has said he is "committed to provide all assistance and cooperation to the authorities"