WASHINGTON, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) has partnered with MiQ to launch the AEA Ammonia Certification System, a global certification system designed to facilitate the transparent, trusted international trade of low-emission ammonia.

The AEA Ammonia Certification System is a voluntary system open to all entities in the ammonia value chain. It supports alignment across regions and sectors, allowing producers, traders, and consumers to demonstrate key environmental attributes – namely carbon footprint and origin – using independently verified data.

The system entered its pilot phase in October 2025, with the publication of documentation (available online at ammoniaenergy.org/certification) and the launch of a global registry to manage the generation, transfer, and retirement of certificates. Early pilot participants are now preparing their initial audits, before the first certificates can be generated. The pilot remains open to additional participants.

The AEA Ammonia Registry, built and operated by MiQ, provides participants with a digital infrastructure that enables secure data transfer, transparency, and traceability across the ammonia supply chain at scale. Building on MiQ’s market-proven global leadership in methane emissions certification, this collaboration reflects MiQ’s broader mission to accelerate rapid reductions in methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, while supporting the AEA to help shape the future of ammonia as a clean energy solution. This collaboration marks the first time MiQ’s independently verified data and certification registry model has been applied beyond natural gas.

Georges Tijbosch, MiQ CEO, said “Today’s announcement demonstrates the power of independent, third-party certification to deliver real emissions reductions across the supply chain. MiQ certification is market proven – and we are delighted to partner with the AEA to bring our trusted data and registry expertise to low-emission ammonia trade worldwide.”

Vibeke Rasmussen, AEA President and SVP Product Management & Certification, Yara Clean Ammonia, said “In keeping with the AEA’s vision that ‘Clean ammonia energizes the future,’ how do you convince the end-users of clean ammonia that the molecules are truly clean? The AEA’s certification system provides proof that the environmental attributes of the ammonia produced are transparent, reliable, and trusted. Certification is key to the growth of the clean ammonia market.”

The pilot phase of the Ammonia Certification System encompasses:

Pre-certification of facilities that have not yet been built. Pre-certification provides project developers with a credible evaluation of the environmental attributes of future production, to support offtake and financing discussions.Certification of ammonia produced at facilities that are already operational. This enables full disclosure to the consumer of the environmental attributes of ammonia and supports demonstration of compliance with regional or global requirements for emission reductions.A global ammonia registry to enable the secure transfer of certificates across the value chain, from generation, through trading, to retirement. The pilot supports three distinct chain of custody models — Segregated, Mass Balance, and Book & Claim.

Nicholas Cook, AEA Technical Committee Chair and Product Stewardship Manager, CF Industries, said “Ammonia customers need to be able to trust the claims of those producing and trading low-carbon product. AEA’s Ammonia Certification System and MiQ’s central registry provide quality data, with a fully formed chain of custody model, that allows for global certification.”

Trevor Brown, AEA Executive Director, said “To scale up and speed up the adoption of clean ammonia, market participants need high quality and credible data – rigorous accounting of actual carbon footprints – but we also need interoperability with different systems, to help align the requirements of voluntary and compliance markets across multiple sectors and countries. Our pilot participants will be demonstrating this in the year ahead, including participating plants in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, which will be using various pathways, including electrolysis, natural gas with CCS, and other technologies to supply certified ammonia to consumers in multiple sectors.”

To join the pilot of the Ammonia Certification System, interested parties are invited to review the documentation at ammoniaenergy.org/certification or contact the AEA at certification@ammoniaenergy.org.  

Interested parties that are not directly participating in the ammonia value chain but seek to understand the AEA’s Ammonia Certification System and its potential alignment with other voluntary or regulatory frameworks are also welcome to inquire about joining the pilot as an observer.

AEA and MiQ presented the system and registry on Tuesday, March 24, at a Lyceum Lab session during CERA Week, in Houston, Texas. The AEA’s Ammonia Certification System will also be presented at the following global events in the coming months:

World Hydrogen 2026 Summit, Rotterdam, Netherlands, May 19-21Ammonia Energy APAC 2026, Brisbane, Australia, June 15-175th Symposium on Ammonia Energy, Santiago, Chile, September 28-30AEA Annual Conference 2026, Houston, USA, November 9-11

About the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA):
The AEA was founded in 2004 with a mission to accelerate the responsible adoption of clean ammonia by promoting cross-sectoral collaboration, knowledge sharing, global standards, and supportive policies. This mission supports both the decarbonization of ammonia production and the use of low-emission ammonia as a fuel and energy carrier. The AEA is a global trade association whose 200+ members represent the full value chain of ammonia across multiple sectors. For more information visit https://ammoniaenergy.org/.

About MiQ:
MiQ is a global leader in methane emissions certification and data. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to lower emissions gas by providing a credible and transparent certification system that drives regulatory compliance, incentivizes continuous improvement, and ensures methane accountability in the oil and gas sector throughout the entire supply chain. For more information visit https://miq.org/

Note to editors:

Ammonia is one of the most abundant molecules on earth and is both naturally occurring and man-made. It is a vital product, already applied as a nitrogen fertilizer and leveraged in various industrial and consumer applications. It is quickly emerging as a zero-carbon fuel and energy carrier.

To support the adoption of ammonia in energy applications, the AEA has been working since 2021 to develop the AEA Ammonia Certification System, which aims to enable differentiation in the marketplace for low-emission ammonia, enhance credibility throughout the supply chain, facilitate cross-border trade, and support alignment between multiple certification schemes, standards, and regulations.

The key design principles of the AEA Ammonia Certification System include:

Technology neutral, inclusive of all production pathways (fossil, renewable, bio, etc.).Absolute GHG emissions, site-specific, measured not modelled.Well-to-gate boundary, including upstream emissions.Tradeable, facilitating transfers of low-emission ammonia certificates.Regular audits by independent, accredited certification bodies provide assurance.

For more information on the Ammonia Certification System, to view AEA’s webinar “Unpacking the AEA’s Ammonia Certification System,” to view MiQ’s video walkthrough of the AEA Ammonia Registry, or to learn how to join the pilot, please visit ammoniaenergy.org/certification or contact the AEA at certification@ammoniaenergy.org.  

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SOURCE MiQ; AEA

New Coupa research highlights a widening gap between industry leaders and laggards, underscoring the urgent need to modernize direct procurement using AI

FOSTER CITY, Calif., April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The recently released report, State of Direct Spend 2026, from Coupa, the leading platform for autonomous spend management, reveals that direct procurement-related disruptions cost organizations an average of $16 million annually – with nearly every respondent experiencing significant supply disruptions within the last 24 months.

These staggering costs arrive as direct procurement reaches a critical inflection point. While 39% of organizations still view the function as a basic operational necessity, 72% expect it to evolve into a strategic contributor or a competitive advantage within three years. However, alleviating potential costs and maintaining agility requires overcoming massive internal hurdles. Respondents cited legacy systems (58%), data quality and fragmentation (51%), and integration complexity (42%) as the primary barriers to modernization.

The research identified a severe and widening capability gap between procurement “Leaders” and “Laggards”, with Leaders demonstrating early adoption of AI-driven technologies in helping to solve issues:

60% of Leaders can detect supplier reliability and price risk early, compared to just 26% of Laggards.Laggards are 2.4x more likely to lose revenue due to fulfillment failures.53% of Leaders are piloting, scaling, or running AI in procurement, whereas 64% of Laggards are still just exploring use cases or have not started at all.

By industry sector, the Industrial Machinery sector is seeing the highest operational risk, with 63% experiencing unplanned production shutdowns. Yet it is also the least prepared for cascade failures, with only 32% conducting quarterly scenario modeling or continuous optimization with AI digital twins. In contrast, the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sector leads in sourcing sophistication – with over half of respondents operating at a Level 3 sourcing maturity or above. The Freight & Logistics sector is operationally the most resilient, but structurally constrained by legacy systems – 60% cite legacy systems as their #1 modernization barrier, more than any other sector surveyed.

“The survey data is clear – better management of direct spend and its processes can either significantly contribute to, or hinder, corporate growth. The good news is that Coupa is helping many customers address this issue by unifying direct and indirect spend data, and embedding intelligence into continuous decision-making workflows, transforming procurement from a tactical cost-center into a proactive driver of strategic enterprise growth,” said Vikram Pathak, Coupa Chief Product Officer, Direct Spend. “Coupa helps organizations unify and align their supply chain, finance, and procurement operations from design to payments, enabling them to build more adaptive supply chains, intelligently manage total spend and supply, and protect and grow their margins.”

Download the full State of Direct Spend report here.

Methodology
Incisiv surveyed 133 senior leaders across the CPG, Freight & Logistics, and Industrial Machinery sectors in North America and EMEA.

About Coupa
Coupa is the leading platform for autonomous spend management. Using its trusted, community-generated, $9.5 trillion dataset, Coupa brings evidence-based intelligence and autonomous AI agents to a network of 10M+ buyers and suppliers on a unified platform. Coupa seamlessly automates the purchasing and transaction process for buyers and suppliers alike, powering the #1 business trade network. With Coupa, you’ll make margins multiply™. Learn more at coupa.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).

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SOURCE Coupa Software

 The agreement positions Meta at the forefront of a new category of energy infrastructure strengthening America’s energy leadership

ASHBURN, Va., April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Overview Energy and Meta today announced a first-of-its-kind agreement and partnership to advance American-built space solar energy with initial orbital demonstration in 2028 and commercial power delivery expected in 2030.

To support AI infrastructure deployment across the United States, Meta is taking an innovative step to enable and secure access to new power technology designed for modular scalability. The agreement gives Meta early access to capacity from Overview’s space solar energy system of up to 1GW. The system collects solar energy in space and beams it to existing solar facilities on the ground, where it is converted into electricity, allowing these assets to maximize utilization and produce power around-the-clock.

“Space solar technology represents a transformative step forward by leveraging existing terrestrial infrastructure to deliver new, uninterrupted energy from orbit. We’re excited to partner with Overview Energy to pioneer innovative energy solutions to advance our AI ambitions and infrastructure,” said Nat Sahlstrom, VP of Energy and Sustainability, Meta. “This collaboration demonstrates our commitment to innovation – leveraging cutting-edge technology to strengthen America’s energy leadership.”

With this capacity reservation agreement, Meta is one of the first major companies to secure rights for future space solar energy capacity delivered from orbit to the grid.

“Space is becoming part of America’s energy infrastructure,” said Marc Berte, CEO of Overview Energy. “Our approach to space solar energy enables hyperscalers and technology providers to secure clean power with reliable siting, and speed to power. “Together with Meta, we’re looking beyond traditional constraints on where and when power can be delivered to meet the growing demand for electricity.”

Overview’s satellites collect continuous sunlight in geosynchronous orbit and beam it to existing solar projects on the ground as low-intensity, near-infrared light. By extending the hours that solar installations can generate power, the system is designed to significantly increase their output without requiring new land, fuel, or lengthy grid interconnection processes. Overview’s beam is invisible, less intense than sunlight, and passively safe for humans, animals, and aircraft. The technology is engineered to meet U.S. regulatory, grid integration, and safety standards. Overview’s advisory board includes Jim Bridenstine, former NASA Administrator and Congressman; Mike Griffin, former NASA Administrator; and Joseph Kelliher, former FERC Chairman and EVP of Regulatory at NextEra.

The agreement between Meta and Overview marks an important step toward making space solar energy a practical component of America’s energy infrastructure mix—one capable of supporting a growing economy that depends on always available, high-quality power.

About Overview Energy
Overview Energy is turning uninterrupted sunlight in space into directable energy on Earth. Its satellites will collect solar energy 24/7 in geosynchronous orbit and beam it to receivers on the ground—existing and future utility-scale solar projects—as safe near-infrared light. The system will be able to shift power across continents in real time based on demand, without changing infrastructure on the ground. Founded in 2022, Overview has already achieved first-of-its-kind power beaming from a moving airborne platform and is backed by leading investors in energy and aerospace.

About Meta

Meta is building the future of human connection, powered by artificial intelligence and immersive technologies. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward experiences that foster deeper connections and unlock new possibilities.

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SOURCE Overview Energy