Marian Ignat, Patricia Cîrtog, Susanna Tomassini
Zoom In: Green Transition and local realities in the chemical industry offers a journalistic inquiry into the complex landscape of environmental transformation in Romania’s chemical industry, developed by journalists Patricia Cîrtog and Marian Ignat with the visual designer Susanna Tomassini. The project presents three video essays that merge investigative text with visual narratives, using found footage, archival material, and original photography to dissect the tensions between policy, industry, and ecology.
Each case study examines a pivotal chemical actor: Brenntag, a distributor navigating the gap between EU sustainability goals and local market realities; CupruMin, a state-owned mine whose expansion highlights the environmental cost of strategic raw material extraction; and Chimcomplex, a petrochemical giant balancing their need to remain competitive in an age of modernization with their responsibility to radically reduce emissions.
These visual essays move beyond simple reportage to question the very materiality of transition—documenting the infrastructural delays, economic pressures, and regulatory ambiguities that define the pace of industrial change. The work exposes the contested ground where global climate ambitions and the deepening need for climate justice meets local chemical realities.
Credits
Voiceover: Christine Cizmaș
With contributions by: Raluca Pintea (HSE Manager, Brenntag România)