NABARD, with the Gates Foundation and Dalberg Advisors, has launched the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge to integrate climate data systems and strengthen climate resilience in rural India.

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• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, along with the Gates Foundation and Dalberg Advisors, has launched the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge to strengthen rural climate resilience.
• The initiative aims to build foundational technological layers of a National Climate Stack that will integrate multiple climate datasets and support improved climate intelligence for agriculture and rural planning.
• India is facing increasing climate risks such as heatwaves, floods, droughts and cyclones, which threaten agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods across many vulnerable regions.
• The proposed National Climate Stack will unify fragmented climate data platforms into a single interoperable system that enables predictive analysis and more effective real-time decision-making.
• One key objective is to develop reliable climate hazard forecasting models for a ten to fifteen year time horizon to help governments and communities prepare for extreme events.
• Innovators are encouraged to design digital dashboards and applications that can transform climate forecasting data into practical tools for agriculture planning, rural finance and disaster preparedness.
• The innovation challenge invites participation from research institutions, universities, startups and private sector innovators to create scalable and scientifically rigorous climate data solutions.
• The challenge will follow multiple stages including proposal submission, evaluation, guided development and final technical validation between March and June 2026.