Cat Clifford is Cipher's senior science and economics correspondent, based in New York City. She has been a journalist for almost two decades and for more than half of that time, she has reported on the startup, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. Most recently, she has focused her reporting on the new technology being developed to respond to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Before joining Cipher, Cat helped launch the climate desk at CNBC.com, where she was the climate technology and innovation reporter. In that role, Cat was best known for explaining the science behind a new technology or innovation in uncomplicated and precise language. She pairs her rigorous scientific reporting with an uncompromising economic lens, explaining the costs and benefits associated with a new technology or innovation being deployed and potentially operated at scale.

In November, Cat received the Darlene Schmidt Science News Award, given to her by the American Nuclear Society, for her leading coverage of the nuclear industry, both fission and fusion. Other climate technology topics Cat has covered include the burgeoning clean hydrogen economy and related policy, transmission lines and the grid’s importance in the deployment of clean energy resources, the debate over deep sea mining for minerals used in clean energy manufacturing, the development of carbon removal and sequestration technologies, battery technologies and the evolving sentiment around various solar geoengineering strategies, among other topics.

Cat completed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Clean Air Task Force's extended education course on nuclear energy in 2021, participated in the Columbia Energy Journalism Initiative in 2022 and was a member of the first cohort of the Climatebase fellowship in 2022. She holds a bachelor's degree from Columbia University.