File photo of RK Pachauri, the chairman of the IPCC
Rajendra K Pachauri has quit as chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) days after the police began investigating charges that he sexually harassed a 29-year-old woman employee in Delhi.
"The IPCC needs strong leadership and dedication of time...which under the current circumstances I may be unable to provide...," Dr Pachauri has said in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Dr Pachauri, 74, is one of the world's top climate change officials. A researcher at his Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) claims the scientist began harassing her soon after she joined the non-profit think-tank in September 2013.
Dr Pachauri has denied the charges; today, he said in a letter to TERI that he was proceeding on leave to ensure the inquiry against him - which includes the questioning of those at his institute - is impartial.
The woman has submitted hundreds of text and WhatsApp messages that she says prove how she was sexually harassed; Mr Pachauri's lawyers have alleged that his computer and phone were hacked.
The case comes at a time when Dr Pachauri is playing a key role in the run-up to a crucial climate change summit in Paris in December where world leaders are expected to agree a new deal to curb global warming.
The IPCC will elect a new chair at a session planned for October and Dr Pachauri, who was first elected as the panel's chair in 2002, will not stand for a third term.
