Amy Harder

Amy Harder is the national energy correspondent for Axios and has been covering energy and climate for more than 15 years. Before (re)joining Axios in September 2025, Amy was the founding executive editor of Cipher News where she spent nearly four years leading a global team delivering solutions-focused journalism on climate and energy.

Prior stints have been at Axios (shortly after its launch in 2017), The Wall Street Journal and National Journal.

Amy is also the inaugural journalism fellow for the University of Chicago’s new Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth. In this non-resident role, Amy is the host of the Shocked podcast and moderate events on campus during the 2025-2026 school year. This role follows a similar role she had earlier in my career for the university’s Energy Policy Institute in the 2018-2019 school year.

Amy has appeared on PBS NewsHour, CSPAN, MSNBC, CBS, and NPR, among many other media outlets. She is a regularly sought out to speak and participate in events, including moderating and participating in panel discussions, and giving speeches around the country and the world.

She believes seeing energy infrastructure up close and interviewing people directly affected by it is paramount to ensure a well-rounded story. Amy has toured everything from an underground coal mine in West Virginia to a wind farm in Australia to a carbon capture facility in Norway. She has interviewed some of the most well-known leaders in this space, and at the same time, bridges the gap between what leaders say and what everyday people care about.

Amy’s career has also included honing her leadership and management skills. At Cipher, she led a global team of six journalists reporting on everything from nuclear power in Japan to solar power in Pakistan to fusion research in California. Cipher ceased publication in July 2025. Cipher was previously supported by Breakthrough Energy, a network of initiatives supporting clean energy.

Prior to that, Amy was among the first recruits to Axios in 2017, staying until Breakthrough Energy recruited me in 2021. While at Axios the first time around, she launched her column, Harder Line, with a concerted focus on climate change and clean energy. Amy also interviewed newsmakers on the “Axios on HBO” show.

From 2014 to 2017, Amy worked at The Wall Street Journal, leading its Washington, D.C. energy and climate coverage. There, she broke news multiple times on the Obama administration, including on the Keystone XL pipeline and climate regulations.

Amy began her career at National Journal, a Washington, D.C.-based publication. While there, she traveled the United States covering the rise of fracking and the oil and natural gas boom throughout the 2010s, talking to concerned residents and company executives alike about the opportunities and drawbacks of this type of energy production.

Originally from Washington State, Amy moved back in 2020 after a dozen years in DC. Amy received a BA in journalism with honors from Western Washington University.

Amy loves running and cross-country skiing the Pacific Northwest’s trails. Honoring her love of nature and spirit of giving back, she joined the Board of Trustees at The Washington State chapter of The Nature Conservancy in summer 2024 on a volunteer basis, lending her journalistic expertise to salient local and regional environmental issues.

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