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Climatize’s Alba Forns Named a 2026 Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellow

Jun 16

Alba walks on stage to accept her Cartier award. On the stage are 6 other people, some holding awards and some applauding

Alba wears a green single shoulder dress and gold heels. She is standing in front of a pink to orange gradient wall that says Cartier Women's initiative 26 — Alba holding her Cartier award.

In 2019, Alba Forns stood among 100,000 people at a climate strike—inspired, but unconvinced that signs and chants alone would bend the arc of history. That moment of productive disillusionment sparked an idea that has since grown into one of the most accessible clean energy investment platforms in the United States. Today, Forns is being celebrated on a global stage: she has been selected as a 2026 Fellow of the Cartier Women’s Initiative, a prestigious honor for women entrepreneurs tackling the world’s most pressing challenges.

A Problem Worth Solving

Despite their key role in combating climate change, small and mid-sized renewable energy projects—especially in rural and underserved communities—often struggle to secure funding, overlooked by traditional investors due to their smaller size and unfamiliarity, yet too large for community lenders.

It was this financing gap that Forns and her co-founder Will Wiseman set out to close with their impact investing platform, Climatize. Climatize is bridging the climate finance gap by making it easy, transparent, and accessible to invest in renewable energy projects and potentially earn a return.

The Cartier Women’s Initiative

The Cartier Women’s Initiative community spans 520+ members consisting of current fellows, alumni, mentors, coaches and jurors across nearly 80 countries, and the businesses it backs are surviving: 66% of all supported ventures are still operating, and 9% have been merged or acquired. This year, as the programme celebrates its 20th anniversary under the theme Lighting the Path, the 2026 awards ceremony took place on 10 June in Bangkok.

Thirty new fellows were honored this year, representing the top three businesses across nine regional categories and one thematic Science & Technology Pioneer Award. First-place recipients receive $100,000 in grant funding, with second and third place earning $60,000 and $30,000 respectively.

Congrats again to Alba for this achievement!