Arrogance, COI, and “Climategate”

The embarrassing revelations concerning possible conflicts of interest involving Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC should not be surprising to anyone who has dealt extensively with well-known scientists. Like successful people in other professions, leading scientists have extremely healthy egos. From this comes arrogance and an insensitivity to the implications of one’s actions. Anyone in a position of such public importance and trust as Dr. Pachauri should recognize that it is not only the fact of a conflict of interest but also the perception of possible COI that can be incredibly damaging. In extensive dealings with COI issues in the academic world I have always applied the ‘how would it look on the front page’ test. In this case Dr. Pachauri and his colleagues have clearly flunked the test.