Well now, this is a real case of ‘do as I say, not as I do.” Although he has his own eco-friendly electric car given to him (for free), Dr Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, prefers to mostly use a gas-guzzling, chauffeur driven car even for the short 1-mile trip from home to office. According to his chauffeur, he does occasionally use the electric car but not often because he would have to drive that car himself and he prefers to be driven. He also eschews the public transportation system available for the trip from home to work. Living in a 4.5 million dollar mansion, his 3-person nuclear family owns a total of five cars beyond the electric car, none of which are environmentally friendly. Indeed, far from it. Reporters on his trail also witnessed him being regularly chauffeured far shorter distances than a mile, in some instances a matter of just a couple of blocks when going to lunch. In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Pachauri insisted that he would not resign over the Glaciergate controversy – and, ironically, urged people to use public transport to help reduce global warming.

Dr Pachauri said people should take ‘practical lifestyle steps’ including ‘use of energy-efficient transport, including public transport – and in general become conscious of our carbon footprints as individuals’.