Google Picks 16 Organizations for Asia-Pacific Climate AI Accelerator

Google DeepMind selected 16 organizations from Asia-Pacific for the first cohort of its AI for the Planet accelerator, a three-month program designed to help startups, research teams and NGOs scale climate and nature-focused solutions faster using artificial intelligence. The program kicked off with a bootcamp in Singapore.

Who made the cut

The selected organizations include teams from New Zealand (800 Trust, Listening Lab, Wildlife.ai), Singapore (Kumi Analytics, SIGMA, City Syntax Lab), South Korea (TelePIX), Indonesia (Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari, Edufarmers), Thailand (Living Roots), India (Terrastack, Climitra Carbon, Farmers for Forests, Varaha Climate), Australia (X-Centric) and Japan (Archeda).

Google split participants into three thematic tracks. Six organizations are working on biodiversity and climate resilience, five on sustainable agriculture, and another five on climate and carbon solutions, including emissions monitoring and carbon credit trading.

Google's models in practice

Instead of cash grants, the accelerator gives participants access to Google's internal model stack tailored to environmental tasks. AnthroKrishi supports agricultural data analysis, ForestCast and AlphaEarth Foundations are used to monitor forests and the Earth's surface from satellite imagery, and SpeciesNet and Perch help identify animal species in photos and audio recordings. Participants also receive technical mentoring from Google and Google DeepMind engineers, along with training on deploying these tools within their existing projects.

From application to selection

Google announced the AI for the Planet program itself back in May 2026, opening applications to startups, research teams and non-profits across the region. At the time, it said the program was aimed at teams already developing concrete climate or environmental solutions, not early-stage ideas. Now, four months later, the company has published the final list of 16 selected organizations and launched an in-person bootcamp for them in Singapore.

This sequence, open applications first, then selection and an intensive implementation program, echoes earlier Google.org initiatives in the region, such as the Sustainability Seed Fund and the AI Opportunity Fund. The company has consistently favored an industry-accelerator model over one-off grants in Asia-Pacific.

Climate pressure in the region

Google justifies the program by pointing to the scale of risk in the region, where economic growth is colliding with rising threats from extreme weather, flooding, and disruptions to food and energy production. The company said environmental technologies in Asia-Pacific are advancing, but not fast enough to keep pace with escalating threats.

It's more about how consciously we use this technology to solve the most pressing challenges - Ben King, Google's Managing Director for Singapore and Malaysia

What it means for the region

For local NGOs and climate startups in Southeast Asia, the program offers a rare chance to access Google's normally closed models without having to build their own computing infrastructure. That matters in a region where the cost of compute and the shortage of local AI teams have often been the main barriers to deploying satellite analysis or forecasting models at scale.

There are no Polish participants in this year's cohort, but the program signals the direction big tech companies are taking with climate-sector support, moving from one-off grants toward long-term access to AI infrastructure paired with mentoring. Whether Google extends a similar accelerator model to Central and Eastern Europe, where local companies working on environmental monitoring and precision agriculture are also flagging a need for access to advanced geospatial models, remains to be seen.

Google did not disclose the financial value of the support in its announcement, nor any specific commitments to further funding for participants after the three-month program ends. The company said only that each team's results would be summarized once the Singapore bootcamp concludes.