Sustainable Finance Expert | Environmental Geoscientist | National Geographic Explorer | Photographer | MSc, BSc, FRGS

Hello! My name is Sergiu Jiduc, and I am a trained environmental geoscientist, sustainable finance professional and photographer. Since 2012, I have been designing and coordinating environmental research and consultancy-style project delivery on four continents across water resources management, energy resilience and access, disaster risk management, climate change policy, green bonds standards development and sustainable infrastructure finance. I am also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a National Geographic Explorer. 

As a child, I grew up in Transylvania, Romania, where I developed a strong appreciation of the natural world and an interest in studying it through mountaineering. My passion for geography and the outdoors led me to study Environmental Geoscience at the University of Edinburgh followed by a Master of Science in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London. 

My professional career spans over a decade at the intersection of environmental science, sustainable finance, and infrastructure policy. I began as a consultant at Ricardo Energy and Environment, where I provided technical expertise on water resource management, international climate policy, and air quality initiatives. I then joined the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), where I played a key role in developing green definitions and sector-specific criteria for sustainable finance, covering areas such as protected agriculture, electrical transmission and distribution, and climate adaptation and resilience.

Building on this expertise, I worked as an independent consultant with the World Energy Council, designing a research framework on energy resilience to inform policy recommendations for climate adaptation in the energy sector. I also supported the Carbon Trust in conducting a mid-term review of the UK’s Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme, assessing its impact in accelerating access to clean energy for developing economies.

I also led WWF’s Sustainable Infrastructure Finance Programme in Asia, driving strategic ‘greening' finance’ and ‘financing green’ initiatives in the region, spanning across infrastructure sectors and sustainability themes such as energy transition finance, nature-positive infrastructure, and ESG integration best practices in investing and lending decision-making;

My field research endeavours span the spectrum of the natural and social sciences but broadly focus on understanding the threat of climate change on the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in glaciated catchments. Some of my flagship projects explored the trigger mechanisms and quantified the dynamics of surging glaciers, assessed the risk of glacial lake outburst floods, evaluated policy and technological solutions to help mountain communities adapt to glacial hazards and explored the barriers and enablers to the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technological innovation in remote communities.

I am also an accomplished climber having completed numerous ascents across four continents, ranging from high-altitude alpine climbs in the Himalayas and Karakoram mountains to technical ascents in the Andes and Caucasus ranges. I am one of the youngest Eastern European climbers to have reached the summits of a series of mountains including Khan Tengri (7010m) in the Tian Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan. Thus, I have acquired considerable project and expedition management experience in difficult terrain. 

In addition to my scientific and mountaineering interests, I am an accomplished science communicator having worked for the Edinburgh International Science Festival and delivered several talks at events such as TEDx, Flood Expo, Royal Geographical Explorer Seminars and others. I am also an aspiring landscape photographer and film director. 

Regarding professional skills, I am trained in the application of science-based greenhouse gas reduction methods, environmental impact assessment, qualitative and quantitative research techniques and science communication. My key strengths lie in creative problem-solving, inductive and deductive reasoning skills, a good eye for detail, strong investigative prowess, and a proven ability to communicate effectively and provide evidence-based inferences. I am a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, with resilience, pace, and interpersonal flexibility and a proven capacity to work in a range of cultural and socio-economic contexts.