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Tech giant Google has picked four Indian startups as part of its debut AI focused accelerator ‘Google DeepMind Accelerator: AI for the Planet (APAC)’, which aims to address urgent environmental challenges using artificial intelligence (AI). The four startups — Terrastack, Varaha Climate, Farmers for Forests and Climitra Carbon — will join a cohort of 16 startups operating across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Over the next three months, these startups will receive access to the latest Google AI stack, tailored technical support and expert mentorship to scale their sustainability-focused AI solutions, the company said. "Kicking off this week with a hands-on bootcamp in Singapore, the program, which supports startups, nonprofits, and research teams, will help them advance their ideas using frontier AI models — like AnthroKrishi, ForestCast, AlphaEarth Foundations, SpeciesNet, and Perch — to tackle urgent environmental challenges," Google APAC regional sustainability head Spencer Low and APAC developer ecosystems head Sami Kizibash said in a blog post on September 7. Google is expanding its climate initiatives in India across solar, clean energy, agriculture and research. It is scaling its AI-powered Solar API across 300 Mn Indian rooftops to help automate roof surveys and solar layouts. Besides, it has signed a four-year agreement with climate tech startup Mitti Labs to supply 1 Mn carbon credits through 2030, with financial terms undisclosed. The fixed offtake will cover credits generated from rice farming projects across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, where Mitti Labs currently covers more than 1 Lakh hectares. The startup uses alternate wetting and drying (AWD) to reduce methane emissions and water use in rice cultivation, while sharing carbon-credit revenue with farmers. Its AI-powered platform uses satellite data, remote sensing, field measurements and biogeochemical models to track emissions and water savings. The company also signed a 150 MW long-term solar power agreement with ReNew Power in Rajasthan to address supply chain emissions, taking its announced Scope 3 solar projects in India to 300 MW. With that, let’s take a closer look at the four startups selected for the Google DeepMind Accelerator: AI for the Planet (APAC) initiative. Climitra Carbon Founded In - 2025 Founders - Shubhankar Mihir Seth, Shaurya Sharma and Aryaman Mihir Seth Headquarters - Delhi NCR Climitra focusses on converting waste biomass into industrial-grade bio-coal and biochar. Its bio-coal is designed as a 1:1 replacement for fossil coal in steelmaking, while it focuses on permanent carbon dioxide removal under its biochar business. Farmers for Forests (F4F) Founded In - 2019 Founders - Krutika Ravishankar, Aditya Avinashe, Arti Dhar Headquarters - Pune F4F uses a payment for ecosystem services (PES) approach to incentivise farmers and communities to convert degraded land into biodiverse forests. Its programmes cover agroforestry, forest protection and restoration, urban biodiversity, human-elephant conflict prevention and climate/ecology education. Terrastack Founded In - 2024 Founders - Aaryan Dangi, Milind Sohoni Headquarters - Mumbai Terrastack is building a geospatial data platform for rural land intelligence and transactions, combining satellite imagery, mapping tools and digital land records to structure land information. Its platform focuses on digitising land boundaries and ownership, enabling data analysis for governments and enterprises, and simplifying land verification, transactions and governance. Varaha Climate Founded In - 2022 Founders - Madhur Jain, Ankita Garg and Vishal Kuchanur Headquarters - Delhi NCR The WestBridge-backed startup operates carbon dioxide removal projects across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Ivory Coast. It works with smallholder farmers to promote regenerative agriculture and agroforestry, generating carbon credits that businesses can use to offset emissions. It also plans to partner with industrial companies, offering digital monitoring, reporting and verification and carbon-credit origination services.
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