Environmental Research Program

Supporting the development, scale-up, and demonstration of large-scale alternative fuel-based energy systems and supporting infrastructure (PON 6161) is sponsored by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This funding supports the development, scale-up, and demonstration of large-scale alternative fuel-based energy systems and supporting infrastructure, with a focus on non-drop-in fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia. It aims to advance solutions optimized for safe, cost-effective, and scalable deployment within New York State to reduce emissions in hard-to-electrify sectors.

The Climate Change AI Innovation Grants program supports projects that address research and deployment challenges in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and climate science by leveraging AI and machine learning, while also creating publicly available datasets and tools to catalyze further work. The program enables key partnerships that accelerate the research-to-deployment cycle, creating synergies between academic researchers, nonprofits, startups and other companies, and governmental or intergovernmental organizations. Funded by the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and Google DeepMind, with Future Earth serving as fiscal sponsor, this is one of the few dedicated grant programs specifically targeting the intersection of AI/ML and climate change. Projects typically involve climate modeling, weather prediction, emissions monitoring, energy optimization, biodiversity monitoring, and other environmental applications of machine learning. The 2026 competition opens with a full proposal deadline of September 15, 2026. The program has grown steadily since its inception, funding 23 projects to date across diverse climate domains and geographies.