Google has launched its first Asia-Pacific accelerator for climate-focused AI, and four Indian organisations are in the inaugural cohort. Here is what the programme is about.

What is it? The Google DeepMind Accelerator: AI for the Planet (APAC) supports startups, nonprofits and research teams using artificial intelligence to tackle environmental challenges. Announced on September 7, 2026, the inaugural cohort has 16 organisations from across Asia-Pacific.

What do participants get? Over three months, they receive access to Google’s AI stack, technical support and expert mentorship to move their projects towards wider deployment. The programme began with a hands-on bootcamp in Singapore and uses frontier models such as AnthroKrishi, ForestCast, AlphaEarth Foundations, SpeciesNet and Perch.

Who are the Indian picks? Terrastack combines satellite and farm data for plot-level intelligence. Varaha Climate uses remote sensing and AI to verify regenerative farming and carbon removal. Farmers for Forests flies AI-powered drones to measure agroforestry outcomes. Climitra Carbon applies geo-spatial AI to verify invasive-species removal and its conversion into biochar.