Molly Scott Cato: ‘It’s the wealthy who are causing climate change’

The Green party MEP for the south-west on why social justice is key to making the transition to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050

Molly Scott Cato can hardly contain herself. Having spent more than 30 years as an activist in the ecology and the sustainability movement, the Green MEP for the south-west region feels the UK is finally starting to appreciate the scale of the climate emergency. "People are suddenly waking up to it, which is very exciting for someone like me who's been banging on about this for years," she says.

Take aviation. "We're really getting a grip on that now. That was something where I was really out of line with other people. But in the last year, people have stopped thinking that I'm a loony not flying anywhere. They start by being admiring and then they start thinking 'Oh God, I'm going to have to start doing that'. We've reached that point, it's really encouraging."