Rajendra K. Pachauri has chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002 and has been director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India since 2001. Pachauri accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC in 2007, along with former Vice President Al Gore.

Established by the United Nations, the IPCC is the “leading international body for the assessment of climate change.” Under Pachauri's leadership, TERI has become India's most prominent center for research and education in the field of sustainable development.

He has authored 23 books and more than 100 academic articles and has held numerous positions at academic and research institutes, including director of Yale University's Climate and Energy Institute (YCEI). He continues to be a leader in global climate change policy and contributed to the historic Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

Pachauri's talk, entitled “Knowledge Institutions and the Imperatives of Sustainable Development,” is part of the “DENIN Dialogue” series of UD’s Delaware Energy Institute. It will focus on how the cumulative effects of industrialization have affected the health of our natural resources and ecosystems. Unsustainable growth is creating problems that not only affect the environment, but also, in some heavily industrialized areas, pose a serious threat to human health.

Pachauri will explore some of the existing environmental issues such as the concentration of greenhouse gases and air quality, with an emphasis on how institutions such as research facilities and universities have the most extensive knowledge and tools to develop technology that is more sustainable. He believes that knowledge will become increasingly necessary to shape human actions and discover solutions that will have an impact on future generations in a positive way.

The DENIN Dialogue Series is a semiannual lecture series sponsored by the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) that brings experts of international renown in environmental research and policy to address the public at UD's Newark campus. The event is cosponsored by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy.