Rajendra Pachauri (pictured) was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong but he waited two months to correct it.
He failed to act despite learning that the claim had been refuted by several leading glaciologists.
It was Dr Pachauri who played a leading role at the summit.
He corrected his error last week after coming under media pressure.
He told The Times on January 22 that he had only known about the error for a few days. He said: “I became aware of this when it was reported in the media about ten days ago.
Before that, it was really not made known. Nobody brought it to my attention. There were statements, but we never looked at this 2035 number.”
Dr Pachauri denied that he deliberately kept silent about the error to avoid embarrassment at Copenhagen.
However, a prominent science journalist said that he had asked Dr Pachauri about the 2035 error last November.
Pallava Bagla, who writes for Science journal, said he had asked Dr Pachauri about the error. He said that Dr Pachauri had replied: “I don’t have anything to add on glaciers.”
The Himalayan glaciers are so thick and at such high altitude that most glaciologists believe they would take several hundred years to melt at the present rate. Some are growing and many show little sign of change.
A picture of my cave
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