Answer: Reducing the activation energy can increase the rate of a reaction.
Step-by-step explanation:
Activation energy is the extra energy that must be supplied to reactants in order to cross the energy barrier and thus convert to products.
A catalyst is a substance which increases the rate of a reaction by taking the reaction through a different path which involves lower activation energy and thus more molecules can cross the energy barrier and convert to products leading to increased rate of reaction.
Thus a catalyst speeds up the reaction by decreasing the activation energy.