EU Referendum

Showing posts with label Ritu Kumar. Show all posts

green+opportunity[i-green+opportunity]
Lift a stone and it's interesting to see what crawls out. Lift several on same patch and other creatures emerge in the unaccustomed daylight. Are they related? You bet.

Go back in time for the first stone, way back to December 1996, and we see a technical paper written on an obscure subject that would not normally get a second glance – but for the lead authors. They are Ritu Kumar, Nick Robins, both known to readers of this blog.

At the time, Ms Kumar (or Dr Kumar – as she sometimes allows herself to be called) is a research officer at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). She works out of the Vienna International Centre in Austria and is evidently well-paid for so doing.

Three years later she is able to quit her job and travel to London to set up house with her husband - who just happens to be Nick Robins - in deepest Merton. They pay £250,000 cash for 27 Albert Grove, which is then registered as the head office of Rajendra Pachauri's Outpost of Empire in London, TERI Europe.

Back in 1996, Nick Robins is working for the environmental "charity", the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) based in London. It is so well endowed that, last year, it took £12,736,870 in income.

Anyhow, the charitable Mr Robins and his bride Ritu have got together to publish this paper which is entitled, "Incentives for Ecoefficiency Lessons from an Evaluation of Policy Alternatives: a Case Study of the Steel Sector in India" – just the thing for those dark December nights.

Of special interest is that the pair (with local authors) are carrying out a study of the suitability of schemes for reducing "pollution" in the steel industry. They conclude that the "regulatory model" is less effective when the regulators are corrupt – which is certainly the case in India. On the other hand, they report that the "incentive model" is "feasible even if we assume that regulators are prone to corruption."

It is, of course, a complete coincidence that the case study is conducted with the assistance of the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), which is later to benefit so much from the "incentive model" so earnestly recommended by the Kumar-Robins duo.

Needless to say, their endeavours do not stop there. In early 1999, they are beating the same drum, with a joint paper about sustainable cities. Nick is still working for the IIED but Ritu has moved to London and is working as a consultant to the Commonwealth Science Council. Shortly, she and "Patchy" are to set of TERI Europe.

The revered Dr Pachauri, some time later, is to take the chair of a founder member group setting up the India Climate Exchange. This will in time exploit the "incentive model" so assiduously promoted by Ritu Kumar, who now works for him in a "voluntary" capacity.

As for Nick Robins, in December 2000 he joined Henderson Global Investors as head of SRI Research. This is a company which seeks to exploit his "charitable" work on the "incentive model" for pollution control. While there, Robins sets up the "Carbon Disclosure Project" which aims to convince corporations of the "desirability" of publishing their "carbon footprint", so disposing them to pay to reduce it.

He, with Ritu and others, on 27 April 2009, also set up their own company called "Investor Watch," which seems to have a similar objective.

Meanwhile, two years earlier, Robins has been recruited by HSBC as head of their Climate Change Centre of Excellence, further strengthening the company's ability to exploit the "incentive model" for pollution control, advocated now for more than ten years by the charitable Mr Robins and a UN official called Ritu Kumar.

As for the IIED, in seeking "to help shape a future that ends global poverty" - as its mission statement so earnestly tells us - it has now acquired as one of its partners an organisation called TERI Europe, of which Ritu Kumar is director. They are part of a coalition called the "Working Group on Climate Change and Development," producing a number of joint reports, such as this.

No doubt, the association is beneficial to TERI Europe. As the IIED is keen to assure us, it is not a "grant-making institution." Instead, its £12 million income is "shared with collaborators and partner organisations in joint project activities".

Nothing here, of course, is remotely illegal. These are just kindly, dedicated people toiling in the vineyard to save the poor, earning a modest crust in the process - some might say. Others might note – not always with approval – that "saving the planet" seems to be a hugely profitable enterprise.

Or, as little Nick once put it, "Green grows the opportunity".

PACHAURI THREAD

IMG_8426[i-IMG_8426]As we left it with our last piece, we were looking Dr R K Pauchauri's London enterprise, by the name of TERI Europe. Headquartered at 27 Albert Grove, Merton (pictured), it is a registered charity which declared to the Charity Commissioner a total of £24,000 (exactly) income for the three trading years ending in 2008, with an expenditure of exactly £16,100.

Yet this is also an organisation which took a contribution of £30,417 from DEFRA in that period, which exceeds the total income for a period of three years, against a high level of operational activity and additional, "generous support" from the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Exact information on income, however, remains frustratingly – if predictably – difficult to obtain. We have written to TERI Europe director (and company secretary) Ritu Kumar, asking for further details of their accounts, to which we are entitled under Charity law. In response, Ms Kumar (who does not have a PhD) has elected to make use of the full two month period of grace allowed under the law before furnishing the accounts and annual reports.

In this fourth piece on TERI-Europe, therefore, what we are building a picture of the operations of TERI-Europe as best we can from open source material. By this means, we aim to show that the level of activity could not possibly be supported by the declared income and expenses. From that stems an entirely reasonable assumption, that details of some transactions have been wrongfully (and illegally) concealed, keeping the turnover below £10,000 which exempts the organisation from filing accounts and reports with the Charity Commission.

So far, I have positively identified 47 specific activities/projects, which are listed below in rough date order. There are many more, but such is the incoherence of the reporting, and the multiplicity of sources, with different players, networks and "partners" involved, that it is difficult to assemble clear details of the many others.

Not least is the habit of these environmental organisations of forming ad hoc coalitions, primarily as "funding vehicles", where the identities of the primary contractors (and beneficiaries) are obscured. The survey is further complicated be the relationship between TERI Europe and its parent body in India, where TERI Europe seems in some cases to be an agency for the Indian operation, taking on projects and contracts which are largely executed by TERI personnel in India.

However, what we have is clearly sufficient to prove the point - that TERI Europe operates at a level which could not even begin to be sustained by the meagre income publicly declared. Thus, this is the list so far:

1. Global Commons Institute in London.

Creation on 24 of December 1999 of an organisation with the informal title, "The Global Commons Network" (GCN). Ritu Kumar involved.

2. Developing clean development mechanism projects for renewable energy technologies.

Project entitled "Solving the CDM Maze for Renewable Energy Technologies in India".

Commenced in 2000 and was sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the British government. Implemented jointly by TERI-Europe, London; TERI, India; the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC), UK; AEA Technology, UK; Renewable Energy Systems Ltd, UK; and ABB Alstom Power, UK. Report in June 2003. HM Treasury report, also in 2003, culminating in a National Strategy Study (NSS) on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) conducted by TERI India with a report in 2005.

3. Conference: Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.

Held 7-9 February 2001. Entitled "Poverty: the global challenge for society, industry, scientists and civil society. Organised by TERI India, partnered by the Government of Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, the International Development Research Centre, United Nations Development Programme, India and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Switzerland. Speaker: Ms Ritu Kumar, TERI Europe

4. WREN International Seminar - Renewable Energy: Major Environmental Option for Sustainable Development.

Old Ship Hotel, Brighton, UK, 19 - 25 August 2001. Part one: Climate Change & Sustainable Development: Speakers, Prof Marco Sala, Prof Phil Eames, Dr Robert Critoph and Dr Caroline Livingstone. A workshop on Climate Change & Sustainable Energy Options organized by Dr Ritu Kumar with speakers: Mr Michael Jefferson; Mr Steve Drummond, and Dr Ritu Kumar.

5. European Union Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility: A Cross- Cultural Perspective.

Wednesday 21 November 2001, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi. Speaker: Ms. R. Kumar Consultant, Commonwealth Science Council, Director TERI-Europe.

6. Corporate Responsibility in South Asia.

TERI-Europe with the New Academy of Business carried out a major exercise to document corporate responsibility practices in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka with a view to developing training modules for companies and academic institutes on environmentally and socially responsible business practices.

As part of this programme, a poll conducted by TERI-Europe has revealed a compelling agenda for corporations in India to demonstrate their social responsibilities. The poll of over 1200 individuals in Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Tiruppur surveyed the perceptions and expectations of workers, company executives, and the general public towards business in India. This poll was the first of its kind to include workers in a survey of corporate responsibility, thereby giving a unique balance to the results.

The results of the poll were presented in a report Altered Images: understanding and encouraging corporate responsibility in India. Reported in 16 January 2002.

This project was supported by the UK Department for International Development's Asia Division.

7. EPTSD Dialogue/Report: Promoting Sustainable Trade in Textiles and Clothing.

An international dialogue promoting sustainable trade in textiles and clothing was held in London on 24-25 January 2002. The dialogue was sponsored by WWF International, Trade and Investment Unit, under its Expert Panel on Trade and Sustainable Development (EPTSD) project.

Report also produced by WWF – World Wide Fund For Nature published in March 2002, which lists TERI Europe as a participant in the "dialogue" and includes a contribution from Ritu Kumar. Financially supported by the Environment Ministries of Norway and the Netherlands.

8. IPIECA Stakeholder Dialogue: International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association, 22-24 April 2003, Durdent Court – UK, with final report, 5 June 2003.

The report summarizes the discussion that took place at the stakeholder dialogue sponsored by the International Petroleum Industry Environmental and Conservation Association (IPIECA), at Durdent Court outside London, United Kingdom, 22-24 April. The dialogue was convened to explore issues surrounding the social impact of the oil and gas industry in its areas of operation.

The report presents a summary of the views exchanged during the dialogue and has been reviewed by all participants. Consistent with the application of Chatham House Rule during the course of the dialogue, no comments are attributed either to individuals or institutions. Rita Kumar, TERI, listed as an attendee.

9. Symposium: Challenges ahead on the road to Cancún.

16, 17 and 18 June 2003, World Trade Organization, Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland. Panellist: Ms. Ritu Kumar Environmental Economist, described as Consultant to the Commonwealth Science Council.

10. International Conference: Towards Sustainable Product Design.

27-28 October 2003, Nordic Sea Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden. Speaker: Ritu Kumar, Director, TERI (Europe), UK. Developing world perspective.

Organised by the Centre for Sustainable Design. Sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers, Swedish Business Development Agency (NUTEK), and the Swedish Ministry of Environment. Supported by: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Switzerland Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), UK Sustainable Trade & Innovation Centre (STIC), Netherlands.

11. Book: Something to Believe In - Creating Trust and Hope in Organisations: Stories of Transparency, Accountability and Governance.

Based in part on an international action research project, conducted in partnership with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) (in Brazil, Ghana, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Philippines and South Africa), research with women workers conducted for the UK Department for International Development in factories and plantations of Nicaragua and another project involving collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Europe and local partners in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

Chapter on "Partnering trust: India's corporate social responsibility heritage," by Viraal B Balsari, TERI-Europe. Published by Greanleaf, December 2003.

12. International conference - Development cooperation and corporate social responsibility: exploring the role of development cooperation agencies.

Held in Stockholm 22-23 March 2004. Workshop 3 refers: CSR standards and norms in developing countries. Chair: Nigel Twose, The World Bank Group. Rapporteur: Ritu Kumar, TERI-Europe. Organised by the Swedish foreign ministry, in collaboration with IIED, IBLF, Sida and the World Bank.

Report subsequently produced: "Exploring the role of development cooperation agencies in corporate responsibility" by Tom Fox and Dave Prescotti.

13. WTO Public Symposium: "Multilateralism at a Crossroads".

25 - 27 May 2004, Centre William Rappard, 154, Rue de Lausanne, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Speaker Ritu Kumar – described as Exec Director, STIC.

14. Project: Sustainable building design: strengthening capacities for planning and implementation.

Part of the EU-funded Asia Urbs programme, this project involved six partners: the Institut Català d'Energia, Spain; the London Borough of Merton; the Haryana State Energy Development Agency (HAREDA), India; the Institut Cerdà, Spain; Renue, UK and TERI.

The reported cost of the project was €715,710 with the EU contributing 65 percent of the total. ICAEN, the LB Merton and HAREDA contributed the remaining 35 percent. The EU grant in aid to HAREDA and TERI was €127,332.50. The split is not known.

Claimed as a TERI Europe project in its annual report for financial year ending 30 June 2004, most of its component of the work seems to have been executed by TERI India.

The aims were "to enhance mutual understanding and awareness between Asia and Europe by supporting urban development projects that are implemented jointly by Asian and European local governments."

The overall objective of the project "Sustainable building design in Gurgaon: strengthening capacities for planning and implementation" was to improve the urban environment in Gurgaon district of Haryana (location of the TERI "retreat" building") through the introduction of sustainability measures in building design.

Its ultimate aim was to assist the local authority in Gurgaon to develop building plans based on the concepts of energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, and sound water and waste management practices.

The first Steering Committee meeting was held in Barcelona on 3-4 July 2002 and the last activity recorded was May 2004 although the project seems then to have been ongoing, awaiting the production of a manual.

15. Energy efficiency and building design.

TERI-Europe assisted the London Borough of Merton in organizing a major seminar on energy efficiency and in incorporating renewable energy technologies in building design. The seminar was part of the activities of the EU funded Asia Urbs project on building design. Date not known - assumed to be 2003/4.

16. INSTEP in the UK.

TERI-Europe hosted an event on INSTEP (Integrating New and Sustainable Technologies for Elimination of Poverty) in March 2005, in collaboration with the India Environment Trust, London. Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI and Dr Leena Srivastava, Executive Director, TERI presented TERI's INSTEP programme to an audience of NRIs and British persons with an interest in development and poverty reduction.

17. Project: Elaborating a research agenda on climate change and development.

Joint project with the International Institute for Environment and Development, funded by Dfid. Culminated in a "Consultative Workshop on Climate Change and Development" at the TERI office location in New Delhi, 4 April, 2005.

18. Symposium: Business Action for Development.

24-25 May 2005, Buckinghamshire, UK. The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) convened this symposium focusing on the role of business in reducing poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in May 2005. TERI Europe included as participants.

19. Ford (Motor Company) Sustainability Report 2004/5: Report Review Committee.

The committee met twice in person (in Dearborn, Michigan, in April 2005 and in Boston, Massachusetts, in August 2005) and communicated extensively with Ford and one another by email and teleconference before, between and after the two meetings. RRC input had significant impact on the content and structure of the report.

Ritu Kumar, Teri Europe, was a member of the Committee.

20. Conference of the Parties, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Eleventh session, Montreal, 28 November to 9 December 2005. Participant: Ms Ritu Kumar.

21. The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII).

Initiated by Munich Re in April 2005 at seminar on Climate Insurance resented by the Institute for Environmental Studies of the Free University Amsterdam. It is launched "in response to the growing realization that insurance solutions can play a role in adaptation to climate change."

The initiative brings together insurers, experts on climate change and adaptation, NGOs, and policy researchers intent on finding solutions to the risks posed by climate change. MCII provides a forum and gathering point for insurance-related expertise on climate change impact issues. TERI Europe is a founder member.

Followed up by a seminar on 5 December 2005, in Montréal, Canada. Peter Höppe, Munich Re notes the increase in extreme weather events and economic losses. He says the Initiative will help address the consequences of disasters in poor countries.

Christoph Bals, Germanwatch, said the "pillars" of a climate insurance fund could be providing compensation for uninsurable slow onset climate change risk and supporting risk financing. Ritu Kumar, Teri-Europe, said risk management in India is reactivated. She called for the improvement of loss data collection for insurance companies and the increase in public disaster reinsurance capacity.

22. Site visit: Argent Energy biofuel plant in Motherwell, Scotland.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri accompanied by Dr (sic) Ritu Kumar, September 2005.

23. Conference: "Investing in the Future: a European Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Finance Sector", attended by Dr Ritu Kumar and
Ms Rochelle Mortier. 1 & 2 December 2005, Riverbank Park Plaza, London.

24. Project: Production of the IPCC AR4 Synthesis Report.

Funding from DEFRA to TERI Europe to cover salary and travel cost of the head of unit responsible to produce a Synthesis Report of the IPCC AR4. From: 2006 to 2007. Cost: £30,417. Paid via Cambridge University.

25. Report: SME Clusters and Responsible Competitiveness in Developing Countries. Produced by AccountAbility with UNIDO. Consultee: Ritu Kumar, TERI Europe. Published January 2006.

26. International Symposium: Climate Policy in the Coming Phases of the Kyoto Process: Targets, Instruments, and the Role of Cap and Trade Schemes.

20-21 February 2006, Brussels. Potsdam Institute Climate Impact Research (PIK). Ritu Kumar, Director TERI Europe, UK, speaker on "The role of India in international climate policy."

27. Project: Stimulating Investors engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility in India.

Implemented by TERI Europe. The project purpose was to encourage the Indian business community to adopt Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) into its corporate strategy. Amongst other activities, TERI held discussions with the National Stock Exchange, Mumbai on the possibility of developing a CSR index for India.

Duration: April 2006 – June 2007. Funded by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

28. Conference: "Kyoto and Beyond: a Global Strategy"

Commonwealth Club, London, 18 May 2006 - Organised by Save our World. Contribution made by Ritu Kumar (Director of TERI-Europe).

29. Conference: Environmental Requirements and Market Access for Developing Countries: How to Turn Challenges into Opportunities.

Geneva, 3-4 July 2006, Conference Room XXIII, E-building, Palais des Nations. Annual Session of UNCTAD's Consultative Task Force on Environmental Requirements and Market Access for Developing Countries. Wrap-up Workshop of the UK-DFID-funded UNCTAD Project "Building Capacity for Improved Policy Making and Negotiation on Key Trade and Environment Issues".

Working Group 1 (room XXIII, E-building): Key findings and lessons of UNCTAD activities in the electrical and electronic sector. Moderator: Ms. Ritu KUMAR, Director, TERI-Europe.

30. Insurance and climate change.

A study investigating the exposure and potential of the Indian insurance industry to cover risks related to climate change is presently being undertaken in collaboration with the Insurance Regulation and Development Agency, India, and the Association of British Insurers. The project is funded by the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Commenced March 2005 and completed September 2006.

31. Project: Developing country negotiators.

Fronted by Centre for Clean Air Policy USA (CCAP) as a joint project, TERI Europe (with some work carried out by TERI India) carried out a project "to assist in developing country negotiators through analysis and dialogue." The objective was to strengthen the capacity of four developing countries (Brazil, China, India, and Mexico) to participate in negotiations on future actions under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.

Funded by Dfid and reported by TERI-Europe for its 2004-5 accounting period. Reference made to the Centre for Clean Air Policy in a Dfid report, but TERI Europe not mentioned. Final report prepared by CCAP in November 2006.

32. Project: Asia Eco-Design Electronics (AEDE).

TERI Europe is a major partner in this project. Amongst other activities, on 5 December 2006 Ritu Kumar moderated a panel discussion at the Hotel Silken 11–19 Boulevard Charlemagne, Belaymont, Brussels, Belgium.

AEDE is funded by the European Union as part of the Asia-Pro Eco Programme. The overall goal is to assist the Asian electronics and electrical suppliers to meet the challenges of existing and forthcoming EC and Japanese product-related environmental legislation and emerging CSR developments.

Originally announced on 10 April 2006, this is a €500,000 plus project led by the Centre for Sustainable Design at University College for the Creative Arts (UCCA) in Farnham, Surrey.

It has six partners: the Department of Environmental Technology and Management, Mechanical Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden; TERI-Europe, UK/India; the Electronic Component Industries Association (ELCINA), Indi; School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), Renmin University of China (RUC), China; Electrical and Electronics Institute, Thailand; Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, India.

33. Conference: India's Sustainability Challenge.

Organised by the Institute of Public Policy Research in London on 14 December 2006. This event, part of IPPR's India Year and Defra's Sustainable Development Dialogues, was attended by the David Miliband, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Ritu Kumar, Director, The Energy and Resources Institute, London, was one of the speakers, alongside Elliot Morley MP.

34. Project: Facilitating sustainable trade in the textile and clothing sector.

TERI-Europe completed a comprehensive review of environmental and social requirements faced by textile and clothing exporters, exporting to the EU. This information has been compiled in a CD Rom, which contains a database on environmental and social requirements for the textile and clothing sector and provides exporters with a ready tool to access information on technologies, retail sources, and trade links.

TERI's objective was to build capacity of SME clusters in the leather and textiles sectors to face the challenges and benefit from the opportunities created by trade liberalisation. The project team conducted needs assessments and reviewed existing policies before holding stakeholders' workshops. Two workshops were organised, one in Mumbai and one Chennai to present the findings of the survey. The team is now working on a paper to identify areas for improvement of trade opportunities for SMEs in those sectors.

The scheme included pilot demonstrations on management of supply chains, as well as adherence to environmental, social, and trade regulations, which were conducted in two factories each in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.

Sponsored jointly by the EU and the Commonwealth Science Council. Duration: September 2004 – Dec 2006.

35. Conference: "Green light for change" Climate change, the Stern Review and what they mean for the Commonwealth.

Thursday 15 February 2007, 6pm at the Royal Commonwealth Society, London. Jointly organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Commonwealth Foundation. Speaker Ritu Kumar, Director (Europe) of The Energy and Resources Institute.

36. Sustainable Investment in India.

Announced as a project on 26 April 2006, this culminated in a report "SI2 - Sustainable Investment in India, - Sustainable development of portfolio investment in India's publicly listed companies."

Authored by Dan Siddy and Ritu Kumar, it was published as a 50-page document, stacked with detail, under the TERI-Europe brand, in May 2007, with the "generous support" of the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

37. Conference: RSA/TEHELKA two-day summit of political, business and civil society leaders share their knowledge and experience of how to engage with and understand India.

7-8 June 2007 at The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce). The Challenge of India: Ritu Kumar speaker. Other speakers include J J Irani - Director, TATA Sons.

38. Report: Up in Smoke?

A study fronted by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and the International Institute for Environment and Development, with preparatory work funded by DEFRA.

Foreword by R K Pachauri and participation by TERI Europe. Reported on 20 November 2007 with environmental and development groups saying India should go all out to invest in clean technology even if it means incurring an estimated cost of $2 trillion.

The study was conducted by the coalition that included International Institute for Environment and Development, Oxfam International, TERI Europe and the World Wildlife Fund, "aimed at assessing the impacts of climate change on global efforts to reduce poverty."

39. EU Parliament Report: Climate Change and India: Impacts, Policy Responses and a Framework for EU-India Cooperation.

Completed in January 2008 by Dr (sic) Ritu Kumar.

40. TERI FES Forum on Climate Policy Dialogue Climate Change, Biodiversity and Food Security in Marine Environments.

The "TERI FES Forum on Climate Policy Dialogue" is a new format that invites policy makers and scholars from think tanks and academia in industrialized and developing countries to discuss key issues of global climate governance. Conference venues alternate between industrialized and developing countries. The launch of the Forum was held in Bonn 13-14 May 2008.

41. High-Level India-EU Dialogue – Solutions for Sustainability.

India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (TERI India office location) - 3-4 February 2009. Organiser and part of the supporting team: Ritu Kumar AGCC; Director of TERI-Europe.

42. Sustainable Investment in Brazil 2009.

Final Report April 2009. Prepared for International Finance Corporation (IFC)
A Member of the World Bank Group by TERI‐Europe. Written and edited by
Ritu Kumar and Dan Siddy.

43. Sustainable Investment in India 2009.

Final report May 2009 prepared for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group Prepared by TERI-Europe. Written and edited by Ritu Kumar and Dan Siddy, an associate fellow at TERI-Europe.

44. High-Level India-EU Dialogue.

The High-Level India-EU Dialogue is an "independent initiative" to promote joint action by India and the European Union on climate and clean development, as a step towards an equitable and effective global framework. This is the third high-level event.

Final report, London, 7-8 July 2009. Organised by Action for a Global Climate Community. Supported by the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Oak Foundation.

45. Conference: Global Energy Challenge – Time to Act.

The Energy Conference of Verbund, 16 - 18 September 2009, Schloss Fuschl/Hof near Salzburg. Speaker Ritu Kumar on "Global responsibility". Also speaking: Peter Höppe, Head of Geo risks Research of Munich Re Group, Germany on "How much does climate change cost?"

46. Conference: Climate Change: India Policies and Perceptions.

In recognition of the global nature of the challenge of climate change and the many synergies and areas of potential collaboration between the UK and India, the City of London co-hosted a conference with HSBC, the London School of Economics and TERI Europe on 30 September 2009. This event took place at the London School of Economics and the keynote speaker was R K Pachauri, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change & Director General, TERI.

47. Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy.

The Centre regards its mission is to advance public and private action on climate change through rigorous, innovative research. Climate change is happening, it asserts, and it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that human activities are the main cause. The consequences of climate change could be enormous if we carry on with "business as usual." But it is not yet clear how our economic, social and political systems can respond to the challenge.

Ritu Kumar: Director, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI-Europe), London – member of the Steering Committee.

Recognising that this list is very far from complete, and many details could be added to existing entries, with clarifications made, we will revisit this post from time to time, and gradually improve the dossier.

PACHAURI THREAD

Teri+Europe[i-Teri+Europe]Al Capone was never prosecuted for his major league crimes – to get him jail the Feds did him for tax evasion. Much the same thinking is behind the pursuit of Pachauri's outpost of empire, TERI-Europe.

Located in London, this is the one part of his empire which comes under UK jurisdiction, where the Charities and Companies Acts apply, in a situation where there is a very strong smell of malpractice – to put it mildly.

A more pointed assessment might veer towards the supposition that this is a "front" organisation, its primary purpose being to launder a substantial flow of funds to other recipients, with minimum scrutiny and accountability.

That the accounts of the charity (pictured left - click to enlarge) don't stack up is already evident from our previous piece, but we need a great deal more before we have a strong enough case to put to the Charity Commission by way of a formal complaint – which is the eventual intention.

What I am doing, therefore – slowly and laboriously – is going through the tedious process of building a picture of TERI-Europe's activities and scale of operations, seeking to demonstrate that they far exceed anything that could possibly be covered by the income and expenditures declared to the Charity Commissioner.

If this can be made to stick, Pachauri, his fellow trustees and his co-director – Ritu Kumar – could be in very serious trouble.

What could help us on our way is a lead which came via our forum, identifying a payment from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) intended for TERI-Europe, but which does not seem to have found its way into its accounts.

Even without that, there are several odd things about this payment. To the value of £30,417, it is intended "to provide funding to TERI Europe to cover salary and travel cost of the head of unit responsible to produce a Synthesis Report of the IPCC AR4."

Working backwards, the main person responsible for this task, to which this funding applies, can only be Dr R K Pachauri. Yet the proposition that he should be paid salary and travel costs by DEFRA, when as head of the IPCC his costs are already covered and his salary is paid by this agency, seems bizarre.

Even stranger is the proposition that the money is being allocated not to the IPCC but to TERI Europe, which has no locus and no responsibilities for the Synthesis Report. It is Dr Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, not Dr Pachauri, director general of TERI and trustee/director of TERI-Europe who is doing the work.

Yet another strange thing is that, although the money is allocated to TERI-Europe, DEFRA pays it to Cambridge University. One assumes the university is dealing with this as a project "managed on behalf of Defra by the Contractor/Funded Organisation selected." But DEFRA has not been slow to throw money at TERI-Europe in the past, so why it could not send the cheque direct this time is not explained.

Howsoever, these are but details compared with the main event. What we have here is hard evidence of a payment of £30,417 – less the university's cut – allocated to TERI-Europe. The detail is quite explicit there: "to provide funding to TERI Europe ... ". What we also have is the payment period, which is "from 2006 to 2007". The sum will thus fall either within the 2005-6 accounting period, 2006-7 or even, possibly, 2007-8.

Even if the sum was split between all three accounting periods, though, there are problems. Respectively, £7,000, £9,000 and £8,000 are declared as income – totalling £24,000. This is less than the sum paid by DEFRA. Even if DEFRA had been the only source of income in the period (and we know it was not - there was that "generous support" of the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office) it cannot be the case that the sum has been declared.

One can only speculate where the money did go, but that is not the issue here. On the face of it, TERI-Europe seems to be in clear breach of the statutory accounting rules applying to charities. And that is a criminal offence.

What sort of audit trail there is back from DEFRA might also be relevant. If there has been an improper payment, it should know about it. But there is something very strange about the British government when it comes to Pachauri's outfits. It seems to have a strange urge to throw taxpayers' money at them.

Thus we learn that, earlier this year minister for International development Douglas Alexander launched a partnership with TERI-India, pledging up to £10 million to support the work of TERI over the next five years.

Amongst other thing, the money would enable TERI "to focus on building its own institutional capacity, helping it to become an even stronger organisation than it is already." Dr R K Pachauri was very pleased. And after he had offered his ritual comments about the "removal of poverty", he no doubt retired to his multi-million dollar home at 160 Golf Links – further then to consider the plight of the poor.

If he were asked what had happened to the £30,417 paid to him, he probably would not remember. Pocket-change sums like that are so easy to forget. We trust, though, that the Charity Commissioner will be less than impressed.

PACHAURI THREAD

Teri+doc+1[i-Teri+doc+1]Although – as we recorded in our earlier post - Dr Pachauri's European outpost, TERI-Europe, was formally set up on 10 June 1999, it was not officially launched until 25 January 2000. For that grand event, its suburban home at 27 Albert Grove, in the London Borough of Merton, could hardly have sufficed.

Through the good offices of Ritu Kumar, director and company secretary of TERI-Europe, however, there was a more than adequate alternative. Using her position in the Commonwealth Secretariat, she was able borrow the premises of her additional employer, the very splendid setting of Marlborough House.

And for such an occasion, the chief guest had to be a person of some substance and it says something for the pulling power of this obscure charity that its was able to attract the Rt Hon Mr John Prescott, then deputy prime minister. Whether Dr R K Pachauri was present at the event is not recorded.

From such an auspicious start, Pauchauri's new outpost of Empire went on to attract an impressive array of projects and partners, proudly listed on its own website.

Foremost amongst these, it parades a project which it describes as SI2 - Sustainable Investment in India, which culminated in a report, published under the TERI-Europe brand, in May 2007. This 50-page document, stacked with detail, was entitled: "Sustainable development of portfolio investment in India's publicly listed companies."

The report is interesting for many reasons, not least because the primary author was Ritu Kumar, who must have spent many hours researching and writing it. Then there must have been the costs of design and typesetting, plus the printing and distribution costs.

Yet, in the year of production – TERI-Europe's financial year ending on 20 June – the organisation told the Charity Commission that its income had been a paltry £9,000 and that its expenditure had been a mere £5,000.

If Ritu Kumar had been paid for her work, it cannot have been very much, and the elaborate 50 page SI2 Report must have been remarkably cheap to produce.

It is also remarkable that, whatever were the incidental costs - such as the telephoning Ritu Kumar must have done, her stationery costs and her office sundries - those plus whatever salary she might have been paid and all the other expenses that TERI-Europe carried that year, came to such an exact figure of £5,000.

This, then, points to a profound suspicion about the operation. That it should have declared an income of only £9,000 and a lesser amount for expenses for its financial year ending 30 June had a particular advantage, viz à viz the Charity Commission. Falling below the £10,000 threshold on turnover, this meant it did not have to publish either its accounts or its annual report. Its affairs could be kept away from the prying eyes of the casual public.

The report, incidentally, was co-authored by a certain Dan Siddy. This gentleman is the founder and director of an outfit called Delsus Limited, a "specialist consulting and advisory services for sustainable finance and investment in developing countries and transitional economies", started in 2006.

An issue here is that the report was not a co-production by TERI-Europe and Delsus. It was very much a TERI-branded product. Therefore, his substantial input must have been by way of a donation to TERI – something, of course, Siddy was perfectly entitled to do. And his time would not come cheap.

However, the Charity Commission rules are very clear on the way such donations should be treated. It states that such "incoming resources" should be included in the statement of financial activities, valued at the price the charity estimates it would pay in the open market for such a service.

Thus, we have a situation where the cash equivalent of Siddy's "donation" comes – presumably – within the £9,000 declared income for TERI-Europe in that year.

That, though, is by no means the whole of it as this enterprise was produced with the "generous support" of the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This "support" was announced in April 2006 would, presumably have become payable in the financial year ending June 2007 – all part of the £9,000 income that TERI-Europe declared to the Charity Commission.

If it was included within the £9,000 declared income, the support cannot have been all that generous as the project also had to fund the services of an "Advisory Group". Surprisingly enough, one prominent member was Nick Robins, cited as Henderson Global Investors. No mention is made if his being Ritu Kumar's housemate and co-owner, with her, of 27 Albert Grove, head office of TERI-Europe.

Other members of the Advisory Group were David Gait (First State), Stephen Hine (Eiris), Nandan Maluste (Kotak Mahindra Bank), Ravi Narain (National Stock Exchange) and Suresh Narayan (India Index Services Limited). Then, TERI-Europe had the services of Rochelle Mortier for "initial research in India and UK", plus Rachel Mew of Delsus Limited, and the staff of the Publications Unit at TERI India. All of this, it seems, was funded within that incredibly modest total expenditure for the year of £5,000 - unless, of course, all these services were donated, in which case they must have come within the £9,000 income.

And this was but one project for that year, and there were other years with other projects, again where the income and expenditure was remarkably modest. We will look at some of these in the next part.

PACHAURI THREAD

hurricane[i-hurricane]"Natural catastrophes have left the world's insurers with a claims bill totalling $22 billion (£13.7 billion) this year as the number of disasters linked to climate change increased markedly."

So writes Miles Costello for The Times, adding to the steady drip of MSM propaganda to reinforce the proposition that "climate change" – i.e., global warming – is a serious problem.

Yet the source of this information is Munich Re, the German reinsurer. It has issued its annual assessment of catastrophe losses, noting that, although overall losses were dramatically lower this year than last, the number of destructive events was higher than its average over the past ten years.

Spokesman Peter Höppe, head of the company's Geo Risks Research division, is unequivocal. He says: "We should make no mistake: despite the lack of severe hurricanes and other mega-catastrophes, there was a large number of moderately severe natural catastrophes. In particular, the trend towards an increase in weather related catastrophes continues."

Höppe goes on to assert that: "Initial analyses indicate that, apart from socio-economic factors, this is already due in part to climate change," on which basis his company argues that there is an "urgent need" for international agreement to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

However, what is lacking entirely from this account is any indication of the Munich Re's motivation for spreading its concerns about "climate change", or any suggestion that it might be a partisan player - at several levels.

In the immediate term, the catastrophe re-insurance market - as Höppe hints - has had a good year, with no major payouts. This is leading to pressure to reduce premiums, so the climate change "threat" is thus being used as a counter - as outlined here.

For the longer term, we have to look elsewhere for the motivation, to the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy jointly funded by the London School of Economics, Leeds University, the Economic and Social Research Committee – and Munich Re.

Within that unit we find the Munich Re programme. Scrutiny of this quickly dissipates any suggestion of altruism or neutrality on the part of the company. The heading of the programme is: "Evaluating the Economics of Climate Risks and Opportunities in the Insurance Sector".

Therein, we also see one of the major research packages, which further gives the game away. It tells us that:

Mitigation and adaptation activities will bring about a plethora of new financial products, introducing new risks and opportunities into the financial sectors. This research package will explore the impacts of alternative approaches to carbon finance and emission trading for different industries, informing the design of trading schemes and new financial service products. The second phase of the package will investigate how better balance investment between mitigation and adaptation, survivability and sustainability from the perspective of market participants.

Thus, the very evident concern of Munich Re is to exploit the financial opportunities created by climate change, its enthusiasm for talking up the "threat" clearly influenced by its perception that there are major gains to be made.

In espousing the cause of climate change alarmism, however, it is in good company. The Centre steering committee, on which Peter Höppe sits, is chaired by Lord Stern. It counts amongst its members Dr Keith Allott, head of climate change, WWF-UK, Antonio Hill, senior policy adviser for climate change, Oxfam GB, Ronan Palmer, chief economist of the Environment Agency, and Richard Price, chief economist, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The presence of Richard Price from DEFRA is particularly apposite for, alongside him is a now familiar figure, none other than Ritu Kumar, director of TERI-Europe.

TERI-Europe, of course, is carrying out its own study "investigating the exposure and potential of the Indian insurance industry to cover risks related to climate change". This, remarkably, is funded by DEFRA and "links have been established" with Munich Re, as we now see from Kumar's participation on the Steering Committee of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. This makes for one real busy lady.

But what it also makes is one giant scam. Whatever the original motivation of the climate alarmists might have been – and one can concede that many people have been genuinely concerned about global warming – the issue has now been hijacked by the money men and the financial institutions, who are intent on exploiting the "opportunities" afforded.

PACHAURI THREAD

Robins[i-Robins]In a small step sideways from looking at TERI-Europe, we need to pick up a few loose ends before progressing the story.

We thus return to Ritu Kumar, whom we met in an earlier piece. She has it seems a taste for directorships, and is turning out to be a past master at multi-tasking.

It is not enough for this lady that she should be a director and company secretary of Pachauri's little enterprise, TERI-Europe, the Executive Director of the Sustainable Trade and Innovation Centre (STIC), a consultant to the Commonwealth Science Council and a senior adviser for Actis UK.

For the idle moments in her otherwise busy life, she as acquired another directorship, this time of a company called Investor Watch, formed on 27 April 2009. Her co-directors are Cary Krosinsky and Mark A Campanale, the latter being responsible for company research on the Jupiter Merlin Ecology Fund, the Merlin International Green Investment Trust PLC and the Skandia Ethical Selection Fund at Jupiter Tyndall Merlin.

Having placed the marker, we will return to these two gentlemen and their shared enterprise in due course. Both have very interesting links into the green movement. But we need also to look briefly at another of Kumar's co-directors of this newly-formed company, none other than Nicholas Vivian James Robins (pictured).

It is he, we ascertained in our previous piece, shares ownership of 27 Albert Grove with Ritu Kumar, the rather unlikely registered office of Pachauri's TERI-Europe. Both give this address as their residence.

Amongst his other activities, he is a leading light in the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets but his current paying day-job is director of the HSBC's Climate Change Centre of Excellence, which he joined in late 2007.

He started off his career with the Economist Intelligence Unit, moved to the EU Commission's Environmental Directorate and thence to the Business Council for Sustainable Development. From there moved to the International Institute for Environment and Development, before ending up with Henderson Global Investors, where he was head of SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) funds prior to joining HSBC.

If this is an interesting snapshot of a green activist pursuing his career path, what Robins does not reveal in his general cv (apart from the fact that he is living in the "head office" of TERI-Europe, prop. R K Pachauri) is that he is an active member of the Green Party - and has recently been a generous donor, contributing £5,500 to the party coffers. Moreover, he stood for election as a councillor in the 2006 local elections in his home area, the London Borough of Merton.

Here, strangely, there is a link with TERI, because TERI-Europe claims as one of its "partners" the London Borough of Merton which it assisted in "organizing a major seminar on energy efficiency and in incorporating renewable energy technologies in building design."

Why a suburban London Borough should need the help of the European arm of an Indian "think tank" is not explained. Even less so is why the seminar was funded by the European Union under its €42.3 million "Asia Urbs " project. However, as first sight, this looks to be a mechanism for channelling EU funds into TERI. Was Robins involved?

Whether there was a link, there is certainly a more tangible association between Robins's employer, HSBC, and an offshoot of TERI-India known as the TERI Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD). In partnership with this organisation, the HSBC proudly sponsors the Living Business SME Award.

Whether there is link between Robins and this award, again is not stated, but HSBC have certainly benefitted from their sponsorship. On 5 February 2009 at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, HSBC India, was presented by Dr R K Pachuri with the "prestigious" Green Globe Award in the business enterprise category "for her commitment to environment sustainability".

Sponsored by the newly-formed Green Global Foundation, the initiative of the Indian Film Academy and Wizcraft International Entertainment, UNEP and TERI, headed by R K Pachauri, are the partners of the foundation.

Friends of R K Pachauri, it seems, tend to do rather well out of their association with the man.

PACHAURI THREAD

terrieuropeo[i-terrieuropeo]
Part of the great global empire controlled by Dr Rajendra Pachauri is an organisation called TERI-Europe. And, like everything to do with Dr Pachauri, it is not quite what it seems, apparently enjoying a flood of grant-funded work, yet living off thin air.

Everything about the organisation is shrouded in mystery and even the most straightforward of details raise serious questions about its operations. For instance, the organisation was incorporated on 10th June 1999, its articles then amended by special resolution dated 2 September 1999. But, although it is registered as a charity, it seems to be running an accumulated deficit over the last five years.

In its year ending 30 June 2004, it reported an income of £21,286 yet showed an expenditure of £35,403. The following year, it attracted a paltry £456 yet still managed to spend £24,379. For the next two years, it took in £7,000 and £9,000 respectively, spending £8,100 and then £5,000. In its year ending 30 June 2008, it made £8,000 and spent £3,000. Grossing just over £45,000 in the period, that left it short by about £30,000.

Nevertheless, this "charity" is also registered as a company, and it tells the Company Registrar that it has a healthy cash balance, currently listing its cash assets as £63,000, which happens also to be the "capital employed" by its two directors. One, rather predictably, is Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri – who gives his address as 160 Golf Links, New Delhi.

But we also have a new (to us) character on the scene. She is Ritu Kumar, the second of TERI-Europe's two directors. Kumar describes herself as an "environmental economist". She is also the company secretary.

The next strange - very strange - fact is that you might expect this hub of empire to be registered at a prestigious central London address - in common with the Washington office. Instead, it is located in an unprepossessing Edwardian detached residential house, deep in suburban Merton on the fringes of South London. This, Ritu Kumar also gives as her address - 27 Albert Grove, London, SW20 8PZ (pictured, below right).

That she gives it as her address is unsurprising. She is what the Land Registry describes as the "proprietor", along with a certain Nicholas Vivian James Robins, who also gives this as his address. The property was purchased for £215,000 on 15 April 1999 - two months before TERI-Europe was incorporated - with a mortgage from the Nationwide Building Society. But this was paid off on 28 September 2001, when Kumar and Robins assumed "title absolute", becoming the legal owners of the property. We will have a closer look at Robins later.

To add to the mystery, there is no mention of company directors in the official TERI-Europe website, which claims that the organisation was "set up by TERI India". This it clearly was not. But Pachauri is not listed as a director - only as a "trustee", along with a galaxy of notables, including Sir John Houghton and Sir Crispin Tickell - who would hardly be seen dead in Merton.

Ritu Kumar, just as strangely, is not identified as a director either - much less as the Secretary of the company. She is mentioned only as a "contact" - with the Albert Grove address and a TERI-India e-mail.

There is also another "contact", a lady called Rochelle Mortier. She has a very interesting cv, currently working for Alexander Ballard Ltd, an environmental consultancy, via Cargill, Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse and Greenpeace - as well as TERI-Europe.

What all makes this so very mysterious is that, despite the incredibly low level of trading, TERI-Europe seems to be able to afford the services of the likes of Mortier, to say nothing of Ritu Kumar, who rather hides her light under a bushel, as far as the TERI-Europe website goes. Furthermore, she seems to have several different versions of her cv.

grove1[i-grove1]One of the more interesting of these makes it clear that we are dealing with Dr Ritu Kumar, described as "one of India's topmost environmental economists, experienced in issues related to sustainable production, trade, and climate change." We are also told that she is currently Director of TERI-Europe and Executive Director of the Sustainable Trade and Innovation Centre (STIC).

Initially government-funded (by the Dutch), STIC is another of those interesting NGOs, with a lot of detail here. In the brochure other funding partners are identified: the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC), UK, the European Partners for the Environment (EPE), Brussels, and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam.

Kumar is then identified as the representative of the Commonwealth Science Council, giving her address as 27 Albert Grove. In another instance, however, she gives a slightly more prestigious address: Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall.

In a book to which she contributes, edited by Cary Krosinsky and her housemate Nick Robins, called Sustainable Investing, Kumar offers a slightly different version of her cv. Here, we are told that from 2000 to 2006 she was director, UK, with TERI-Europe. That - insofar as it implies that she no longer worked for TERI-Europe after 2006 - clearly is not true. All the official records – and much else – have her currently still a director.

But this cv has Dr Kumar from 2006 as a senior adviser on environmental, social and governance issues with Actis UK - a private equity firm investing primarily in Africa, China, India, Latin America, South and South East Asia. She has advised on "environmental, social and business integrity since 2006." The company handles $7.3 billion in investments and has over 100 investment professionals in nine offices worldwide.

Thus far then, with a great deal more to cover in what becomes an increasingly murky story, we have a charity which is a company wholly owned by Dr Pachauri and Dr Kumar, the latter who not only works for TERI-Europe but also for a government-funded NGO, the Commonwealth Secretariat and a private equity company handling billions in investment funds - aided by another "part-timer" working for another company.

Interestingly, much of TERI-Europe's activities are devoted to encouraging Indian corporates to be more "transparent". As we will see in the next part, though, this does not apply to TERI-Europe. The plot is about to get very much thicker.

PACHAURI THREAD