Women of Impact: Alba Forns and solar-financing platform Climatize

Alba Forns is the co-founder and COO of Climatize, an impact-investing platform that empowers people to fund solar projects with the potential to earn a return on their money. Equities News asked Forns to share her journey so far and how she hopes to revolutionize the impact-investing landscape.

The story behind Climatize

From a very young age, Forns said she felt deeply connected with nature and knew she wanted to change the world for the better. With a background in engineering, her climate anxiety led her to pursue two masters degrees, in renewable energy and sustainability.

Forns jumped into climate activism during her studies. She organized beach clean-ups, joined an organization named Rena Mälaren (now Hands2Ocean, H2O) in Sweden to remove waste from lakes, and even met Greta Thunberg when she lived in Stockholm. She attended the weekly Fridays for Future protests in front of the Swedish Parliament.

A climate protest led Forns and her Climatize co-founder, Will Wiseman, to start their company. They saw 100,000 people protesting for climate action. Although they felt empowered during the protest, they left feeling like nothing had changed. That protest spurred their desire to enable people to turn their climate anxiety into action by investing directly in renewable energy projects.

They met later that week to discuss how they could enable people to make actionable change and through weeks of brainstorming, came up with the concept of Climatize. This platform enables users to invest directly into solar energy projects, with minimum investments as low as $10.

Why impact investing?

As Forns mentions in her recently published article “Bridging the climate financing gap: seizing the opportunity,” achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will require nearly $200 trillion in new investment globally, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Meanwhile, COP28 ended with a call to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy by 2030.

“The end of the fossil-fuel era and the dawn of the clean-energy revolution will largely depend on our ability to mobilize capital. My mission is to bridge the climate financing gap by empowering people to easily and transparently invest in renewable energy projects,” Forns said.

Since launching in May 2023, over $3 million has been invested in solar projects via the Climatize platform. These projects go beyond climate impact; they directly benefit frontline communities, ranging from community solar for low-income families to a third-generation women-led family farm.

A natural entrepreneur

Forns considers herself a “natural entrepreneur”. She always knew she wanted to start her own company and follow her father’s footsteps, though she didn’t expect it to come so soon.

“Without actively looking for it, I came across a problem to solve, a powerhouse co-founder and an idea worth pursuing, so I decided to go for it,” she said. “There’s something very beautiful about building something that aligns with your values from scratch.”

When asked what the most valuable skills an entrepreneur should possess, she answers: “without a doubt, passion, resilience and hard work.” But she points out that entrepreneurship can be isolating and so it’s important to surround yourself with people with high energy and ambition who are going through the same journey.

Increasing diversity in the workplace

Only one in five leadership roles in the energy sector are held by women, according to the World Economic Forum. Underrepresentation in leadership positions underscores women’s challenges in rising to high-ranking positions within the industry, but this didn’t scare Forns away. It fueled her ambition.

“Fighting for climate justice and inclusion is my life mission, and Climatize is the current incarnation of that,” says Alba.

Aside from her work in climate, Alba has actively promoted diversity and inclusion. While working as an energy consultant, she helped organize workshops through a program called INSPIRA that empowered girls to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers.

Today, she is actively involved in women’s groups in climate. She is involved with Women and Climate, Women in Cleantech and Sustainability and is the communications co-chair and steering committee member of the WRISE San Diego Chapter. She also engages with female technologists and climate entrepreneurs by providing coaching and mentoring, ensuring they feel heard, supported and empowered.

“My co-founder and I are very proud of the culture we’ve built and the talent we have been able to attract. Our team includes people from all walks of life, female representation, people of color, LGBTQ+ and diversity in age.”

Among the accolades for Forns: She is Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Impact 2023, a Young Energy Ambassador for the European Commission, a 2nd prize winner of the distinguished EIT Changemaker awards 2024 and has been nominated for the Earthshot Prize 2024.  On a personal note, she is an avid runner and speaks 6 languages.

Read more on Women of Impact: Kristin Hull and Nia Impact (Part I) (Part II) | Julie Castro Abrams and how women lead | more articles in this series here.