Blair to Advise Khosla - climate warming - profitable greening

Source: Mail Online

Another $1m pay day for Blair as the former PM lands a job as a climate change guru

By Jason Groves
26th May 2010

Tony Blair has landed a lucrative job advising an American billionaire on how to make money out of tackling climate change.

The former Prime Minister is expected to be paid at least a million dollars (£700,000) a year to act as a 'strategic adviser' to Khosla Ventures, a firm of venture capitalists based in California's Silicon Valley.

The firm, set up by Indian-born dollar billionaire Vinod Khosla, backs firms looking to make a fortune out of developing technology to tackle climate change.

New partnership: Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla looks on as former Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks during the Khosla Ventures Cleantech Discussion in Sausalito, California

Mr Blair, who recently told friends he needs to make £5million a year to get by, already has an international role advising world leaders on climate change.

In his new job he will be expected to cash in his contacts to help open doors for the firm, further blurring the boundaries between his public roles and private earnings.

Mr Khosla said that 'with Tony's advice and influence we will create opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators to devise practical solutions that can solve today's most pressing problems'.

Khosla Ventures declined to comment on Mr Blair's salary, but industry sources suggested he was likely to earn at least £700,000 a year.


Vinod Khosla connections to Rajendra K Pachauri, TERI-Biotech Director-General

Two companies, TERI-Biotech and ONGC decided to formalize a relationship, forming on 26 March 2007 a joint venture company called ONGC TERI Biotech Ltd (OTBL). TERI's director general, Dr R K Pachauri, holds 47 percent of the equity, while ONGC has 49 percent. The remaining 2 percent is held by financial institutions. Pachauri's company TERI-Biotech developed a patented process for the biodegradation of oil, which could be used for extending the productivity of oil wells and for cleaning up oil spills.

Dr Rajendra K Pachauri was born in Nainital, India, on 20 August 1940. He assumed his current responsibilities as the head of TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute) in 1981, first as Director and, since April 2001, as Director-General. Dr Pachauri has been elected as Chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), established by World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme in 1988. He has taken charge as Chairman, IPCC from 20th April 2002 onwards.

TERI has a bookstore; the foreward written for a book sold by TERI explaining the advantages of biofuels was written by Vinod Khosla (Partner, Khosla Ventures), while the Introduction was written by Rajendra K Pachauri.

It should be remembered that Rajendra K. Pachauri was in New York on May 1 - June 4, 2001 in a series of workshops held at the World Trade Center to discuss the possibility of a terrorist attack on Wall Street. On June 4, 2001 “Cantor Fitzgerald/eSpeed conference” took place at Windows on the World just above the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald. Present at the June 4 conference were Thomas Barnett, Carlton Bartels, Philip Ginsberg, William J. “Bud” Flanagan and Rajendra K Pachauri. Of these 4 men, only Carlton Bartels would die in the attacks on 9/11.

“The IPCC was established by UNEP and WMO in 1988 to assess the state of existing knowledge about climate change: its science, the environmental, economic and social impacts and possible response strategies. It has three working groups: Working Group I concentrates on the climate system, Working Group II addresses response options and environmental and socio-economic impacts; and Working Group III assesses economic and social dimensions. IPCC released its Fourth Assessment report in 2007.”