KOLKATA: Renowned environmentalist Dr R K Pachauri said he would soon set up a unit of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in WestBengal to work on climate change impact.

Pachauri, who has worked in the Sunderbans and Darjeeling in the state, today called on chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Writers' Building.

"We have decided to set up a unit of our office (TERI) at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district to give more intensity to our study on climate change impact and work for the protection of the environment," Pachauri, who is the Teri director-general, said later.

"We have already undertaken works on climate change impact at the Sundarbans and Darjeeling, but encouraged by (your) dynamic chief minister Mamata Banerjee's initiative to protect environment we have decided to work extensively in the state," he said.

Pachauri, who has served as the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2002, said Teri was also working on popularising solar lantern in rural Bengal to make the use of renewable energy sources extensive to prevent pollution and protect environment.

"This source of renewable energy is a clean and efficient way of lighting, which will protect women in rural Bengal from inhaling kerosene gas, causing a major threat to health," he said.

Welcoming Pachauri's initiative for the state, the chief minister said her government was ready to extend all cooperation to his institute.

"The institute will come up over four acres of land, it was in possession at Baruipur", Banerjee said