Strategic Area Leader - Beyond Fossil Fuels
Email: ioana.ciuta AT bankwatch.orgTel.: +4031 438 2489
Ioana joined Bankwatch in 2014 as coordinator of the Balkans Beyond Coal campaign, preventing new coal capacities from being built in the Western Balkans region, but also campaigning for improved air quality and the just transition of coal dependent regions.
She works closely with partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia, offering support to the national campaigns, while also advocating for stricter environmental regional policies.
Prior to joining Bankwatch, she covered nuclear energy development in Romania and Bulgaria, and followed the international climate change negotiations. She has a degree in journalism, but has been an environmental campaigner much longer than a journalist.
More from Ioana Ciută
In recent years, Romania has witnessed a concerning rise in cases of environmental degradation and violations of nature protection laws. This trend has significant implications not only for the country’s natural heritage but also for the rule of law. Additionally, it poses challenges for environmental organisations and citizens that advocate for nature conservation. The long-contested small hydropower plant on the Taia river is a prominent case in point.
Under the absurd claim that the country doesn’t have enough motorways or hydropower generation capacity because of NGOs’ actions in court challenging environmental and construction permits, the Romanian parliament is going after civil society altogether and on multiple fronts.
CBAM’s coming, it’s time to put a price on carbon!
June 15, 2022 | Read more
Electricity* traded between Western Balkan countries** and the EU will need to embed the cost of CO2 in its final price, potentially from as early as 2025.
Serbia consulted its neighbour, Romania, about the transboundary environmental impact of its national Spatial Plan, supposed to cover the period between 2021 (!) and 2035. This time, with the text of the Spatial Plan in the language of the potentially affected public, i.e. Romanian, as required by the Espoo Convention. Bankwatch Romania submitted written input, highlighting, among others, that the so-called “gradual decarbonisation” mentioned in the Spatial Plan consists in reality of only 2GW additional installed capacity in wind electricity but of 4GW in new lignite and fossil gas capacity. Bankwatch Romania called for a revision of the Plan, which would account for a genuine decarbonisation in line with the Green Agenda goals, which means abandoning new lignite infrastructure plans.
Serbia: key national plan risks cementing coal dependence
June 29, 2021 | Read more
The Serbian government’s 15-year national Spatial Plan is so keen to stick to business-as-usual it is openly ignoring some of the country’s most pressing issues to justify plans for six new fossil fuel-based power plants. Belgrade also doesn’t appear to care much about what Serbia’s neighbour to the east thinks regarding the implications these disastrous plans would have for them.
